Power Rangers SPD: Aftershock
by Blueberry Blaster
Summary: Grumm wasn't the only Troobian leader, and the Terror warship wasn't the only ship in the Troobian Armada. The Rangers now must muster everything they have to liberate the Delta Base, and venture into the lion's den to save their own...and to win...
1. Prologue

Power Rangers SPD: Aftershock

A.N: Well, my first major story. This will expand on the events following Power Rangers: S.P.D., so don't expect a massively intricate story, and all that. It's more like a mini story arc, if you will. If you want a continuation of S.P.D., go read D. Nic's Power Rangers SPD: Year 2 (which is how S.P.D. should have been shown).

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, or anything related to it. Happy? (I know I'm not)

* * *

The sun and stars of a planet, simply labelled as Epsilon Gamma, was a beautiful place. It was known for the stars, and the average sized S.P.D. outpost that was there to keep an eye out for anything out of ordinary. The only out of ordinary in the sea of stars was the fact that the surrounding the stars and blocking them out was the sea of ruined hulks. 

Many of the hulks sported the S.P.D. symbol, and the acronym of the organisation was blazoned upon many if not all of the wrecks. Out of place, a single badly damaged ship limped towards the stars, in a final, desperate attempt to escape the slaughter. The only thing identifiable on the ship was the large letters emblazoned on it: S.P.D. and even that was badly marred.

The ship's final bid at freedom was cut short by a multitude of sickly coloured greenish yellow lasers that pierced effortlessly through the ruined armour plating, and reached the ship's vulnerable reactor. The explosion lit up the darkness of space, and when the debris cleared, behind the explosion was another ship.

Coloured in the same way as the lasers that just destroyed the ship, the colour only added to the atmosphere the ship generated, enhancing the irregularly shaped portions of the vessel. The entire vessel reeked of death and decay, only emphasised by the lack of bright colouring, and only separated by small spots of black.

* * *

In the depths of the vessel, gleeful, mocking laughter echoed throughout the entire superstructure. The person who was laughing was located in the bridge, sitting on a throne of sorts directly in the middle of the room. Surrounded by displays, the creature who sat watched the images of death and destruction. The screams of the S.P.D. ship's crew was nothing compared to the destruction, the screams and cries for help coming from the S.P.D. outpost below. 

As wave after wave of Krybots marched in, cutting down cadets and officers alike, sweeping every building thoroughly, the creature seated could only take sadistic pleasure at the destruction. The fact that Krybots were still being destroyed was of no concern to him. They were replaceable, compared to what S.P.D. would lose after the outpost had been wiped off the face of the galaxy.

It was pathetic really. Space Patrol Delta, or more commonly abbreviated to S.P.D., had a rather pathetic navy. Even more so, the ground troops were more or less intergalactic police officers, not soldiers. And there was their problem. They were facing an Empire built around military actions and warfare, yet they still acted like a police force.

It had galled him that S.P.D. had still survived after this long, and it galled him even more that one S.P.D. base had stood firm, and repelled a Troobian invasion, led by the Emperor of the mightiest military ever known.

They even had captured Grumm, and destroyed the true emperor, Omni. That particular base was where he was headed. After his supply ship had stripped everything of value from the outpost, and after his warship had levelled it to the ground, that base was his destination, the location of the most embarrassing defeat suffered by the Empire at the hands of S.P.D.

It was a mistake that he intended to fix. It was a mistake he _needed_ to correct. It was something that had to be erased.

Permanently.

* * *

A.N: There it is. The prelude to the storm. At least I hope it'll a storm, rather than a lighting lightshow. This prologue isn't supposed to be much. Please leave a comment or two, and some helpful advice if you can. It will be much appreciated. The next chapter won't be up until at least the end of next week, due to end of school exams. See you all next time, when this is updated. 


	2. The Calm

Power Rangers SPD: Aftershock

A.N: The first chapter. I try to keep everything true to canon. I really have nothing to say here. See you at the bottom!

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything related to them, and so on.

* * *

Supreme Commander Birdie sometimes hated his job. At times, the job had its perks, mainly near total command of all S.P.D. forces or personnel. However, it was the times like these that he really wished he had taken an easier job.

What seemed like a million things had spiralled out of his control, starting with minor technical issues, to massive requests for assistance or reinforcements. There was a riot on one of the many planets S.P.D. held a presence, a bombing, kidnapping and even small-scale battles.

As well, Birdie needed a new Chief of Technology. Heck, he had needed one long before, when the previous Chief had retired. Given the importance of the position, he had called meetings with other heads to discuss the empty position. Birdie had called for applicants, and over a hundred application forms were filed towards his desk. He never realised how much sleep could be lost when going through such forms. While Dr. Manx had never filed a form, his brief, though disastrous stay at Earth's S.P.D. Base had convinced him that she would best fill the role, with good reason.

Despite being a so-called 'backwater' Base, as coined by many other Commanders, it was far more advanced than most other S.P.D. Bases he had been to. From what Cruger had told him, most, if not all, the upgrades to the systems had been done by Dr. Manx. It didn't help that she was a native of Sphinx, and most Sphinx natives were known for their technological extravagance. The only Sphinx natives that were with S.P.D. were both stationed at Earth.

Apart from the debacle about the empty position, Birdie had yet another problem on his 'hands'. The outpost that S.P.D. had on the Alpha Centuri system had sent a static filled request for help. The only thing that could be heard clearly through the static was the explosions. Birdie had sent a scout ship to the outpost over three hours ago, and it should have returned over an hour ago. The combination of these things and factors was taking their toll on Birdie, and he wished for a day of peace and quiet.

The only thing that had done something to relieve some of his headache was that the siege of Earth was over. It took some weight off his shoulders, as the reinforcements he was preparing to send to Earth could be diverted to other stations needing help. S.P.D. was spread out too thinly, and regular requests for help were not unusual.

Just as he was finished writing out and sending the next orders for the ship captains, he received an alert from his secretary. Touching the button, he questioned his secretary. "Yes?"

"Supreme Commander, Patrol Group Alpha reports that they have found the scout ship. The captain of the scout ship has a report for you," came the sectary's response over the intercom.

"Send him over," ordered Birdie. He was anxious to see the report, and hoped that the captain had something good. He really wasn't in the mood for more bad news. He gave a sigh and leaned back in his chair, awaiting the inevitable.

* * *

The mud course was often the most hated part of the morning training. Especially for the B-Squad Rangers, all but one shared a love/hate relationship with the dirty path, if it could be called as such. On one hand, considering it was right after rather tiring obstacle course, the run was even more tiring than it would have been. On the other hand, completion of the run signified the end of their daily morning torment, and left them free for about half an hour to clean up.

On this particular day, the four B-Squad Rangers ran to the finish. Rather, one ran to the finish and the other three stumbled or dragged themselves to the end. It seemed that despite having ran the course many times before didn't make it easier anytime. Sky Tate, being the first to finish and to date the only one who could stand the exhausting run from start to finish stood and watched the rest of the Squad come in. He took a long drink from his water bottle, sweat streaming off him by the litre.

Elizabeth 'Z' Delgado was the second one to come in, followed by Sydney Drew who was clinging onto Bridge Carson's arm as the two came in. As soon as he was on clean grass, Bridge collapsed, panting. He caught his water bottle as Sky tossed it towards him, and promptly poured half of its contents over himself. "Give me a monster, Krybot attack any day," Bridge panted. "Just don't make me do that again!"

"You're not the only one," agreed Syd, slumping down on one of the benches. Only Sky and Z were standing, though Z was bent over, hands on her dirtied knees, panting and letting sweat drip off.

"Wooh, that was really something, wasn't it?" Z gasped out.

"Whatever, Z. I'm just glad it's over, now I can finally go and clean up. I hate the mud," Syd grumbled, as Bridge picked himself up and followed Sky and Z back into the Delta Command Base, towering over the other structures in the city.

* * *

"Is that all?" Birdie asked.

"Unfortunately, yes sir. The Troobians are most likely moving by now, and the outpost is at best a great deal of scrap metal lying around," reported the captain of the scout ship.

Birdie sighed. He had another problem. "Thank you, captain. Get some rest, you and your crew. You've been through a great deal."

"Thank you sir. And sir? The leader of the Troobians gave me a message to give to you."

"Very good. You're dismissed captain." The captain gave Birdie a salute, then walked out of the office, leaving the recording of the message on Birdie's desk. Birdie looked at the disc with both anger and sorrow. The anger came from partly that the message was most likely just there to mock S.P.D. and sorrow because he knew there would be something really bad happening once he activated the disc.

Reluctantly, Birdie inserted the disc into the holoprojector built into his desk, and watched. The first thing that showed up was an image. The creature was wearing the classic Troobian 'crown'; a skull-shaped helmet that covered the creature's entire face. Like Grumm, twin horns protruded from the helmet, though in this case they were bent backwards, twisting and turning to form a twisted version of a braid. It wore skeletal armour that covered it completely. Its clawed hands clutched at a pike, and it stared straight at Birdie.

"If you happen to as fortunate as to be listening to this message, then know this," the creature hissed, its eyes glowing red. "S.P.D. you have long been a thorn in my side. Know this: I am Maligntcious, Troobian Overlord, and next to the throne of the Troobian Empire. I sow devastation wherever I go, as you would have learnt from Epsilon Gamma. Earth is next. You may have defeated Grumm and Omni, but this is where it ends. Tell the base at Earth that their time is running short. They have but a few more days before the iron fist of the Empire crashes down upon them!" The creature, Malignticous let out a long maniacal laugh before the recording cut short.

All Birdie could feel was anger. It was typical arrogance of the Troobians to tell let their enemies know what they were doing. Of course, then there was the problem of the Troobians habitually attacking somewhere else without warning, often on the other side of the universe. Given the problems, Birdie decided that the threat towards Earth was real, given its recent past with the Troobians, and obviously, someone was riled up about it.

Pressing in a few buttons, he called up a conference with the captains of the assembled fleet. Within seconds, Birdie's large screen mounted on the left wall of his office turned on, and divided into twenty even sections, each showing the face of a captain. Birdie turned to face the screen.

"Gentlemen and women, I have called you for a purpose," began Birdie.

"What is it?" asked one of the captains. He was a human, and the appointed leader of the fleet that was assembled.

"Your previous orders have been scrapped. We have a new threat coming in, a second wave of Troobians," revealed Birdie.

"And this is different how?" asked a female Aquitian.

"This fleet is apparently lead by an Overlord, and is headed for Earth, to avenge the loss of Grumm and Omni. You all know that the victory at Earth has raised morale across the galaxy. If we lose Earth, confidence in us, and the confidence of all officers, cadets and everyone serving at S.P.D. will fall dramatically. You need to head to Earth and stop this fleet. That is all. Captain Richards, you have command over this fleet. Do whatever is necessary to stop the Troobians, and capture their Overlord. It might throw the Troobians into disarray long enough for us to recover from our recent losses. Good luck people. Birdie out." With that, Birdie cut the connection, and the screen turned blank.

The Supreme Commander walked over to the large window, where he could see the outlines of the twenty ships of the fleet he had sent to Earth. He watched as one by one, they turned and left towards Earth at the fastest speed possible. Deep down, Birdie knew it was the last time he would see many of them, and he hoped that what he had done could be justified.

* * *

Anubis 'Doggie' Cruger jerked up with a start. He took a look around, and after a while, sighed and slumped his shoulders. He hated nightmares. He checked to make sure that Isinia, his long lost wife was still asleep. She was.

As quietly as possible, Cruger slipped on his uniform, and proceeded out the room. Lately, he had been, somewhat slack, getting up a great deal later than usual, and leaving the Command Centre earlier. Kat had been handling all the 'minor issues' as she had put it, as well as repairing all the Zords and damaged equipment.

Cruger reached the Command Centre, and walked inside. Already, the Command Centre was a buzz of activity. Despite not having Troobians overhead, they still had to deal with occasional thefts and other crimes committed by the non-human population of Newtech City.

There were cadets manning the various stations, and occasionally passing reports back and forth. Cruger walked past saluting cadets, and sat down at his desk, situated a rather lengthy distance from the entrance. There were already several reports requiring his attention, and he was about to start on them when the doors hissed open.

Cruger looked up, and saw who entered. He watched as Kat entered, and gave the feline scientist a smile as she crossed the floor towards him. "Morning Kat," he greeted as she reached his desk. His smile disappeared as he saw the tired look in Kat's eyes. "You've been up all night again, haven't you?"

"Morning sir. You'll be glad to hear that all repairs to the Base have been completed, and it's back to full functionality," Kat reported, ignoring her superior's question. The Delta Command Base had suffered damage, especially from Broodwing's first attack, which had led to a gigantic hole in the Command Base. Guards were patrolling the area virtually every minute, until recently.

"Good hear. However, you have to stop working all night, Kat. You've been working non-stop ever since the siege ended, and you look like you're about to drop anytime. Get some rest," Cruger urged.

"I can rest tonight Doggie," answered Kat. Doggie sighed.

"You better have Kat. We can't have you dropping dead at our feet yet, can we?" he asked.

"Sure Doggie. I got to get back to the lab. I'll see you later," Kat said as she turned around and left in the direction of her lab. No sooner than she had left, did a cadet turn around.

"Commander!"

Cruger turned his chair to face the cadet. "Yes?" he asked.

"Sensors have picked up a rather large fleet moving towards Earth. They're hailing us as well," reported the cadet.

"Very well. Put to my screen." The cadet nodded and did so. The screen turned on, and showed the face of a human male with short cropped brown hair.

"Commander Cruger, pleased to meet you," started the human. "I am Captain Richards. I'm afraid that we bring bad news."

"What is it captain?" asked Cruger. He was getting a bad feeling about this. Richards sighed before starting up again.

"Twenty two hours ago, an S.P.D. Outpost at Epsilon Gamma was obliterated. The attackers were later identified as a Troobian raiding fleet, led by a Troobian Overlord. The Overlord is headed for Earth, with the intentions of destroying this Base. There are some finer details that are better discussed in person, perhaps with a few of your senior staff or officers?"

"Of course. How much longer until we can expect you here?" asked Cruger.

"At our current speed, I'll be there no later than 0845 hours," answered Richards.

"Very well Captain. I look forward to our meeting."

With the screen winking off, Cruger glanced at the clock on the wall. It read 8:40 am. He pressed the button that opened the intercom, and prepared to speak.

* * *

Syd used a towel to dry her now flawless golden hair, which was previously little more than a muddy mass upon her head. A vigorous shower, followed by intensive cleaning had removed all offending streaks of mud from her hair. She flopped down on the couch next to Bridge, who was unsurprisingly eating toast. "How can you eat now, Bridge?" asked Syd.

"Well, people eat when they are hungry don't they?" said Bridge before pausing. "But wait, how do people know that they are hungry? I mean, we all know the feeling, that we want food, but what tells us that we need food? And Syd, buttery toast," at this point, Bridge automatically wiggled the fingers of his right hand "can be eaten at any time," Bridge rambled, answering her question in the process.

Syd rolled her eyes, and glanced over at where Sky and Z were sitting. Z was leaning back, resting her head against the end of the couch with her eyes closed, whilst Sky was reading the S.P.D. Handbook. Again.

A sudden buzz of excitement rippled through the room. There was sound akin to a stampede as all of the cadets in the room rushed towards the large glass window that offered a fantastic view of the city. Syd craned her head in their general direction to see what the fuss was all about. Bridge too had stopped eating, and was now looking through the window at the wondrous sight in front of them.

Syd hopped off the couch and headed over to the window. Bridge, following her lead, vaulted over the couch and ran to the window. Sky looked up from the rather thick volume he was holding, and frowned as he saw two of his team-mates head over to the window, and got up himself. His movement stirred Z, who opened her eyes and sat up straight, and glanced at Sky. "What's going on?" she asked. Sky shrugged.

"Come on, let's see what's this all about," Sky said as he headed over, Z on his heels. Reaching the window, a few cadets parted before him, allowing him to get rather close to the window. His jaw almost dropped at the sight in front, or rather, above him.

High above Earth, well above its protective atmosphere, were the silhouettes of twenty S.P.D. Navy vessels. The clear, cloudless sky over Newtech City only added to the majesty of mighty warships over Earth. Sky had never thought about seeing an S.P.D. warship before. The Delta Command Base kept a few shuttles, but they were miniscule compared to the vessels in orbit. The ships resembled the Astro Megaship, in its circular design, but on a much larger scale. However, the body was elongated, forming more of an oval than a circle. Many of the ships were scattered throughout the galaxy, and rarely were anymore than five present at any system at any given time. At this point, the intercom hissed, and Cruger's amplified voice came over.

"B-Squad Rangers and Dr. Manx, report to the Shuttle Bay," came Cruger's disembodied voice. The four instantly stopped their staring at the ships and ran for the Shuttle Bay, the holes they left in the crowd filling up again.

* * *

The Shuttle Bay was one of the main features of the Delta Command Base. Like virtually everything in the Base, it had been long ago modified by Kat to be more efficient. The four Rangers ran down the three escalators, and to where Cruger and Kat were already waiting on the spotless floor, only recently cleaned by a pair of misbehaving cadets.

Cruger and Kat stood in front of one of the two landing slots, watching a dot in the distance approaching. "Commander Cruger sir!" Sky announced as the four walked the rest of the distance in a more orderly fashion. Cruger turned around, and noted their dishevelled appearance, a side effect of their sprint from the Rec Room to the Shuttle Bay. "Clean up officers!" barked Cruger. After a moment of confusion, and a few looks around, pandemonium ensued as the four tried to smooth out wrinkles in shirts, straighten collars and the like. Kat looked amused, whilst looking completely perfect herself, with not a strand of hair out of place, which was rather hard to justify given the scientist's wild mane of hair.

The sound of approaching engines caused all of them to look at the rapidly approaching shuttle. The shuttle transmitted the clearance code, before proceeding towards the Bay. Instinctively, the B-Squad Rangers step back and form a straight line, Sky at one end, Syd at the other. A blast of wind whipped through the Bay as the Shuttle pilot brought the shuttle down to one of the landing slots. The shuttle hissed as smaller thrusters manoeuvred the craft to a perfect landing.

The rear ramp slid down, and the door opened to reveal a rather average looking human officer, with the S.P.D. Badge pinned to his left breast. The shoulder of the man held a single star, signifying his importance; the man was a captain, and held a great deal of power.

"Commander Cruger, pleased to meet you," Captain Richards greeted with a smile as he approached the group, a hand extended.

Cruger shook the offered hand. "An honour to meet you, Captain Richards," replied Cruger.

"Just call me Richards," laughed the captain. He took a look around at the five other people present. "This must be the legendary B-Squad," he stated, looking at the line of Rangers.

"Yes they are," Cruger answered. As the captain stepped in front of them, all four instantly saluted.

"Very disciplined Cruger. I can see why they are the stuff of legends," said Richards.

"They are the best team of Rangers we have," Cruger told him, as he walked past and strolled over to Kat, standing further away from the Rangers. " And this is Doctor Katherine Manx, our top scientist and Chief of Technology," Cruger said as Richards offered Kat a hand.

"A pleasure to meet you," greeted Kat as she took his hand. However, Richards lifted her hand up and placed a kiss on it. Colour rose to Kat's cheeks as he did so.

"The pleasure's all mine, Dr. Manx," replied Richards, letting go of Kat's hand. "We better start the briefing. It's preferable that we hold it somewhere private, as some of the things we'll be discussing is not exactly pleasant normal dinnertime conversation."

"We can use Kat's lab," said Cruger. "It should be private enough, and it has some features that the Command Centre doesn't."

"Very well. Let's go." With that, the group turned and left the Shuttle Bay, headed to Kat's lab.

* * *

Meanwhile, far away from Earth, a small fleet of warships accelerated through the frontier of space, moving in perfect formation. Onboard the lead vessel, in the room that served as the bridge, a bright light flashed and disappeared just as fast.

Sitting on the throne was Malignticous, holding a rather small weapon. Two metres away from him lay the vaporised remains of one of his many second in commands. He growled as he slid the miniature weapon back into a slit on his skeletal armour. He hated 'Are-we-there-yet' questions, and hated the people who asked the dreaded question even more. In fact, he hated every variation of the blasted question. He leaned back, and waited until the time his little fleet would reach and blow Earth to little pieces. He checked their course, and set up a countdown until they reached Earth.

**180:00**. And counting down.

* * *

A.N: Ah, the feeling of a new chapter posted. Don't you just love that feeling? Of course, the feeling of another review is just as good, so leave a comment please! And any constructive criticism is also appreciated. I'm trying to add a bit of everything in here, from a great deal of action to some relatively minor angst. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Oh yes, if you have any name suggestions for a sequel to 'Serene Reflection', feel free to leave a PM (by the way, there'll be little reflecting in the sequel). See you next time! 


	3. Landfall

Power Rangers SPD: Aftershock

A.N: Hmmm, second chapter, nothing to say here again, move along people, move along…

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything related to them, and so on.

* * *

The group of possibly the most important people at S.P.D.'s Earth Base was walking down the corridor to the third most secure place in the base. Richards, being unfamiliar with the Base's layout stayed in the middle of the entourage, with Cruger and Kat at the front, with the Rangers bringing up the rear.

As they reached lab, the door slid open silently to allow them access. Inside, Richards let out a slow whistle of approval. "You work here Dr. Manx?" he asked, viewing the room. The entire room was spotless, an indication that Boom wasn't mucking about, which gave Kat some relief. The many benches and tables were loaded with technology, some experimental and some for a bit of fun.

"Yes, this is where I work," Kat answered as she sat down at her desk, tapping at a few keys on her computer while she did so.

"We swear she sleeps here as well," joked Syd, before getting a nudge from Z and a disapproving look from Cruger. The captain merely chuckled.

"Alright, let's get settled for the briefing. Make yourselves comfortable. It's not exactly a short one," said Richards.

The Rangers shuffled around, settling themselves in. Sky continued to stand, while Z sat on one of the many tables, with Syd following suit. Bridge opted to stand next to Kat's terminal, and peered over her shoulder occasionally.

Captain Richards took a deep breath, and handed a disc to Kat, who took it and inserted it into her computer. She tapped away, and within seconds, the large screen on the wall to her left lit up.

"Alright, let's get down to the basics. Twenty three standard galactic hours ago, the S.P.D. Outpost at Epsilon Gamma was attacked and destroyed by a Troobian fleet. When the distress signal was sent, the Supreme Commander dispatched a scout ship to investigate the base. The scout ship came back intact…relatively. It had a recording of what it found."

Richards nodded to Kat, and she played the first thing that was on there. The camera was clear, but shook around a bit. However, the image was just as horrifying. There were multiple wrecks, scattered around the place. The camera panned to show the outpost, or rather, what was left of it. Almost all the buildings were wrecked, and fires raged across the entire outpost.

Orbiting the outpost like predators were six oddly shaped ships. One was much larger than the others, and after a brief instant, fired upon the scout ship. Lasers were seen flying through the inky darkness of space, before hammering the scout ship. The camera shook, and blacked out.

The recording stopped. The reactions to the recording were mixed. Syd was staring at the screen with her hand covering her mouth in shock. Z had a similar expression as she sat there. Sky had involuntarily clenched his hand into a fist, and was staring at the blank screen. Bridge had gotten up and was staring at the screen as well.

Kat and Cruger were impassive as always, showing little outward emotion. Richards cleared his throat, and continued. "The scout ship also brought back another recording; this time, from their leader." The screen shifted again to show the Troobian Overlord. The Overlord continued his monologue, and after a short while, Kat paused it.

"This is apparently the Troobian's soon to be Emperor. As you would have heard, his name is Malignticous. From what we have worked out, and what you should have just worked out is that he's coming here to Earth to exact revenge, or to rescue Grumm. We highly doubt it's the latter, as Troobians simply let what happens go by. They just simply don't go on rescue missions. Which brings me to another point; we are here to ensure that this base is still standing at the end of the day, and to destroy or to capture the Overlord-"

Sky interrupted at this point. "Excuse me sir, but did you say destroy?" he asked.

"Yes, Officer, you heard correct. The S.P.D. Navy engages its opponents in battle, and unlike the ground forces, we can't capture them. Unless they evacuate from their ships, then we capture, but most Troobians go down with the ship, which is unfortunate. They always self-destruct if they're disabled, so capturing is simply out of the question. You'll find space very different to ground."

"I see sir."

"Now to a serious matter. You've all seen the destruction at the Outpost. This is classified information, so don't go blabbing it out," said Richards. Almost every head turned to Bridge.

"What?" he asked defensively. Everyone turned away.

"In over thirty years of battling with Troobians, what many ground based personnel don't realise is that in space, the S.P.D. Navy gets its rear end kicked far more often than on the ground, though we get kicked down there just as badly at times. Basically, the bottom line is this; the Troobians naval capacity and strength is many times more than ours. We lose most of our vessels against the Troobians in space battles. The kill ratio of our battles generally is about 1:2, but sometimes that ratio will rise to over 1:3, especially if there is a Troobian battleship in the group."

Richards took another breath. "Most of our vessels are classified as frigates or cruisers, and we have a few carriers around, but use of them is greatly restricted."

"Restricted sir?" asked Sky.

"Restricted. Most of the planetary governments are nervous about us using anything that carries that much firepower, or vessels. So as a show of faith, we shut the door on the production of any carriers, and any we do have, which is very few, are kept locked away, and even then they are deactivated, and there's a motion going on to have them decommissioned," explained Richards.

"That's the reason why there are twenty S.P.D. ships in orbit. Your success here at Earth at repelling the Troobian assault has caused morale and confidence in our capacity to keep the peace has risen enormously. Should you fall, well, there might be a vote going on about waging direct war with the Troobian Empire, which honestly, is downright idiotic. Our job pretty much is to ensure that you survive the next couple of hours, and hold off the Troobians."

"Which brings me to the next stage of your briefing. We identified that there were six Troobian vessels. Here they are. Dr. Manx, if you will," Richards called out. Kat typed away, and soon, the screen displayed six vessels, all coloured the same and irregularly shaped.

"This one," said Richards as he pointed out the one in the middle. "Is their flagship. It is half the size of the Terror warship, but is still a formidable vessel, heavily armoured and boasting plenty of firepower. Most of the others are frigates, which are only mediocre in terms of firepower and armour, but superior to our frigates. And this last one," Richards pointed out the one that was the largest. "Is their supply vessel. We have determined that it possess only light armour and essentially is unarmed. But the majority of their soldiers, Krybots and the like are stored there, so it is important that it is destroyed. If not, it could simply overrun you with waves of Krybots. Luckily for you, that's our job, yours is to simply stay alive," said Richards, making a weak joke. The same people wore the same expression, except that Syd had moved her hand.

"So, are there any questions?" he asked. Bridge raised his hand. "Yes?"

"If you say that you can win if you have more than enough ships, and you have twenty, and that's a lot, because it's expensive and all, but how come you're talking like you won't win, when you have three times the amount of ships they do?" asked Bridge.

"That's because they have the flagship. That could rip apart half of our fleet before we even damage it significantly. Also, we presume the fleet to be one of the premier fleets of the Troobian Navy."

"Then excuse me sir, but why are we just sitting here?" Sky demanded.

"Pardon officer?"

"Why are we just sitting here listening to this when we could be out there training in the simulator with the S.W.A.T. Flyers? They're capable of space flight," cleared up Sky.

Before Richards or Cruger could say anything, Kat interrupted. "Sky, your S.W.A.T. Flyers weren't built for capital ship combat," said Kat. "They are more heavily armoured than most normal fighters, and might be able to withstand a few shots from a point defence laser, but a single hit from a laser meant for larger ships would simply vaporise you and the Flyer," Kat explained.

"But-" Sky protested.

"No buts, Officer Tate," barked Cruger. "You heard what Kat said."

"What if we formed the S.W.A.T. Megazord?" asked Z.

"It wouldn't do any good Z. If anything, it would make things worse. The Megazord is many times larger than a single Flyer, and that would make you an even easier target," countered Kat.

Richards looked interested. "S.W.A.T. Flyers and Megazords? This is new. If we have time later, I would like to get a look at these machines. I haven't even heard of it among any of the other bases yet. You designed it as well, Dr. Manx?"

"Yep," came the simultaneous response from three of the Rangers.

"If we can't lend help, can't you ask the Aquitians or some other government for help?" asked Bridge.

"That's not an option anymore. Most planetary governments signed a treaty that limited the use or even deployment of space capable warships," explained Richards.

"Why?" Syd asked.

"Well, three warships, even frigates, could easily conquer a system without such a capacity. Also came the problem of what possessing such ships allowed you to do," Cruger said. "Kat's homeworld actually had a fleet a long time before it was destroyed. She can tell you what happened."

Kat sighed. "Basically, a civil war happened. The fleet was split up between the factions and fought amongst each other. The worst part was that sometimes, to win a battle, a captain would bombard a place from orbit. Such assaults caused enormous casualties, and sometimes civilians were caught in the bombardment. Needless to say, afterwards, the ruling government was quick to ban any capital ships, which ironically made it easier for Grumm to destroy," finished Kat.

"Oh. So, we're on our own?" asked Syd.

"Basically, but we'll do our best. Now that this briefing is over, would one of you be as kind enough to show me around the S.W.A.T. Flyers and technology?"

Outside the lab, the four Rangers of B-Squad and Cruger gathered, having left Kat alone with Richards to explain the S.W.A.T. technology.

"Why do these things always happen to us?" wondered Bridge aloud.

"That doesn't matter. What does matter, is that you prepare yourselves for the attack. Go and train. Dismissed," Cruger ordered. The Rangers saluted, and headed off for the gym to train. Cruger sighed. He had two problems. First was the safety of the base, the second was the safety of his wife. He had no idea what to say to her.

* * *

In the gym, on the training mats, Sky and Z were going at each other. Sky went for a kick that Z ducked easily, jumping away before Z swept his legs out from under him. He went out with a flurry of punches.

"Can't…believe…Cruger…wouldn't…let us…get…out there!" he said, accenting each word with a punch. Z couldn't help but roll her eyes as Sky ranted.

"I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't feel up for being vaporised by a laser," she retorted as she counter-attacked with a kick that connected with Sky's leg. She used the second Sky was distracted to hammer him with her own succession of punches and kicks which sent him to the ground. "I'm sure Cruger doesn't want us vaporised either," Z added as she helped Sky up.

"Bridge, Syd, your turn," announced Sky before going to his water bottle and grabbing his towel. He handed Z hers before taking a long drink from his. She nodded gratefully as Sky walked out to get another bottle of water, and sat back on a bench, sweat soaking through her outfit, watching Bridge and Syd go at it.

Though they were the weaker of the four, Bridge and Syd were still strong fighters. Bridge held the advantage, his passive genetic ability allowing him to move before Syd struck, which was quickly frustrating Syd.

"Bridge!" she cried out as her fourth attack in a row missed. "Can you stop doing that?"

"I can't turn off what I am, can I?" he asked back.

"Just like your buttery!" Z called out to him, causing him to blush.

"That's different!"

"How so?"

Bridge didn't reply, and Z laughed.

"Come on Bridge, just joking!"

"Yeah, I know- agh!" he gave a shout as his bickering with Z caused him to lose concentration, allowing Syd's fist to connect with his chest, which sent him to the ground.

"OK, I give," Bridge said from the ground as Sky walked back in.

"Done?" he asked as they stumbled off the mat.

"Definitely," confirmed Syd as they moved past him.

* * *

Almost an hour and a half later, Kat had finished explaining about the S.W.A.T. technology to the captain.

"Very good, Dr. Manx. You really should be working with Galaxy Command," remarked Richards.

"I was already offered a position there. However, it became apparent that I was needed here more. They can't keep the Base running for more than a day without me, or at least, my assistant can't," said Kat.

Before Richards could reply, his communicator beeped. "Excuse me. Captain Richards, go ahead."

"Captain, the Troobians are thirty minutes out," came the voice over the link.

"Alright. I'll be up there shortly. Richards out." He pocketed the communicator, and turned back to Kat. "Unfortunately Dr. Manx, this is where the road ends. I must go and prepare for the battle. It was nice meeting you, Doctor." He gave a bow, and left the lab.

Kat nodded, and checked the computer on her desk. She was alarmed at what she saw. "Doggie?" she asked using the computer's communication system.

"Yes?" the reply came.

"Satellite Four is showing the Troobian fleet only thirty minutes away," she reported as she double checked all her calculations.

"Get to the Command Centre, and monitor the battle from there," came Cruger's voice. "And notify the Rangers. It's best if they're there as well."

"I'm already on it," said Kat, even as she switched channels to communicate with the Rangers. "Rangers?"

"Kat, what's up?"

"Report to the Command Centre. The Troobians are almost here," she said. Not waiting for their answer, Kat left the lab, the doors locking behind her.

* * *

Captain Richards watched Earth through the window on his shuttle as it sped through Earth's upper atmosphere and through the darkness of space to his ship. Though human, Richards had never seen Earth before, despite hearing stories about it. It truly was a beautiful place, and definitely worth protecting.

As the shuttle neared his ship's shuttle bay, he straightened his uniform. He took a deep breath, knowing that the next few hours and minutes might be his last.

When he reached the bridge, he sat down on the command chair. He looked around, proud of the crew he had worked and served with for the last few years.

"How long until the Troobians arrive?" he asked.

"Less than two minutes sir," reported an Officer manning the sensor station.

"Alright, order the fleet to assume positions. Give the order for battle stations," ordered Richards.

Klaxons started blaring, and crew ran every direction to prepare for battle.

"Troobian contact in three…two….one, Troobian contact confirmed!" shouted the Officer at the sensor.

"All ships, fire!"

* * *

Down on Earth, Kat and the other Rangers were gathered around a monitor on the far side of the room. Cruger was noticeably absent. They were watching the battle as it unfolded, and in high-definition at that. The Troobians weren't stopped by the hail of laser fire that greeted them, and their return barrage knocked out four S.P.D. Vessels.

"How did the Troobians survive that!" exclaimed Syd.

"They do have exceptionally thick armour," Kat frowned.

"Kat," Sky began, but was stopped before he could finish the sentence.

"Don't even think about it."

"But we could help up there," Sky protested.

"Sky, unless C-Squad is ready to be upgraded to active Rangers, you're staying here."

"Cheer up Sky," perked up Bridge. "At least we won't be vaporised!"

At that point, Cruger walked in and headed to where they were gathered.

"Commander," greeted five people simultaneously.

"Status?" he asked.

"It's just started and it's not going well," stated Kat.

"Yeah, just like the captain said. They're really getting it handed to them," Z chimed in.

Cruger also stared at the screen. "They really aren't doing that well, are they?" stated Cruger as another three S.P.D. vessels were vaporised by Troobian lasers.

They continued watching as finally, a barrage of blue lasers cut into and destroyed a Troobian frigate. It was the first Troobian vessel to be destroyed.

They had watched the battle rage for over an hour. A large portion of the S.P.D. fleet was a bundle of darkened destroyed husks and only five vessels, three of which looked liked they would fall apart any minute. The other two were also damaged, with fires starting to spring up around sections of the hull.

A similar thing could be said of the far more diminutive Troobian fleet, though it was no less powerful than the S.P.D. fleet, which now consisted of a badly damaged cruiser and a damaged _Chimera_, Malignticous' personal ship, and the flagship of the Troobian fleet.

* * *

Captain Richards stumbled back onto his feet. His vessel the _Indomitable_ had suffered far fewer damage than the rest of its compatriots, but still, considering the damage the others had taken, it wasn't in any better condition.

Blood trickled out from a gash on his forehead. Looking around the bridge, he could see that many of the monitors were destroyed, and Officers and Cadets lay around the floor. Doctors from the Infirmary were scurrying across the bridge, in an effort to find those who needed help and those who were already dead.

"Have all surviving ships target the damaged cruiser!" he croaked out.

* * *

Troobian Overlord Malignticous could feel the fury building up in him. Heck, he could taste it in his mouth. And Malignticous was not a pleasant being to be around when he was angry, as evidenced by the smoking remains of another two second-in-commands.

He watched as the _Darkness Below_, the damaged cruiser and only other surviving ship was hammered by a rain of lasers, which cut into its already weakened armour and into the ships superstructure. The _Darkness Below_ turned into a fireball that contrasted its name, and by the time the explosion had dimmed, all that was left was a floating pile of space dust.

Malignticous almost screamed out in anger. This is wasn't the way he had envisioned the battle. While most of the S.P.D. fleet was wiped out, so was his. Some of his crew was asking to retreat. He had no intentions of doing so.

"Keep diverting power to the lasers!" he shouted, waving his miniaturised blaster around for emphasis. The already dim lights dimmed even more, and the ship spat hails of lasers towards the S.P.D. fleet. One ship exploded under the pressure, and the laser fire crippled another.

* * *

On the _Indomitable_, Captain Richards stared at the screen with defeat. Even with three ships, they wouldn't be able to stop the Chimera warship.

"Order the _Relentless_ to target the Troobians weapon hard points, and tell the _Justice_ to retreat and bring the news back to Galaxy Command," ordered Richards. The Officers and Cadets rushed about frantically to carry out his orders, as did the ships. The _Justice_ turned about, and sped off at best speed. The _Relentless_ started to target sections of the _Chimera_ where the lasers emanated from. Laser fire slackened as laser batteries were battered by the _Relentless_' own lasers.

"Target their weapon hard points," ordered Richards, as his ship's lasers also targeted the Troobians. There was no option remaining other than to wipe out as many laser batteries as they could. Already the _Relentless_ was reporting hull breaches, and armour plating on the ship was failing.

Staring closer at the _Chimera_, Richards could see the Troobians laser batteries firing non-stop, certain parts going red. They must be straining the reactor, thought Richards when an idea struck him.

"Navigation, bring us as close as you can to the Troobian ship," ordered Richards. "Engines to full power."

The ship rumbled as the engines were strained in an effort to propel the ship faster towards their counter-part.

"Sound the self-destruct alarm, and get all non-essential personnel into lifeboats," said the captain. Alarms blared, and Cadets and Officers rushed towards the ship's lifeboats, even as the _Indomitable_ set herself a course which she would never come back from. Sickly green lasers struck the hull, and rocked the ship as lifeboats were ejected.

The _Relentless_ exploded, causing fragments to bounce off the hull. The Troobians realised to late the intentions of the _Indomitable_, and sent every single bolt they could possibly put together at the _Indomitable_. But it was already too late.

Richards watched the screen as some of the bridge crew was evacuated. He stopped his XO as he walked past. "Tell Commander Cruger, the B-Squad Rangers, Dr. Manx and all the other personnel down there that I'm sorry I couldn't stop them." His XO nodded, before saluting. They had served together for a long time, and this was their last battle.

Richards turned towards the crew who were needed to stay behind. He took a deep breath. "People, I have had the honour of serving with you. It has been a rough road, but, in the end, we hopefully have made a difference. It's been an honour serving with you all," Richards said as he gave them a salute. All returned the favour. He took one last look around, and hit the button that read 'Execute'. There was a loud rumbling, as the ship's reactor began to overload itself, and eventually, a bright light appeared, and then, darkness.

* * *

Malignticous was thrown from his throne as the _Chimera_ was rocked forward by the exploding ship.

"What's going on!" he shouted.

His main scientist and weapons developer Choustos, a green skinned alien, was at the main console, tapping away desperately. He looked up.

"Th…th, the main engines are damaged severely!" he stuttered. "Reactor's overloading! There's too much power being re-routed back to it!"

Choustos checked their heading. "We're going into the atmosphere! Hang on!" he cried out.

Malignticous gave sigh. His weapons designer was a constant thorn in his side. At times, his weapons were too ineffective, and despite his prowess with technology, he was an extremely timid creature. Were it not for his technical expertise, he would have vaporised him ages ago.

* * *

On Earth, the Rangers, Cruger and Kat watched as the _Indomitable_ exploded, taking with it a large part of the Chimera's engines. They watched with alarm as the loss of the engines caused it to tilt, and to head for Earth.

"Kat!" exclaimed Cruger. "Is there anyway to stop that ship?"

The scientist shook her head sadly. "As much as I hate to admit it, there really is no way to stop it. The S.W.A.T. Cannon isn't powerful enough, and neither is the Delta Command Megazord. Such a blast would only serve to melt the armour."

All the people present stared at the ship on the monitor, and hoped for a way out of the impending crisis.

* * *

The bridge/ throne room was getting noticeably hotter, even for Malignticous, encased in the skeletal armour. He watched as fire filled the main screen on the bridge. Some of the monsters manning the stations around the bridge attempted to waver off the heat by pulling at their collars.

He watched as Choustos attempted to bring the main engines back online, his irritation growing by the second.

"Choustos!" he roared. The technical expert quivered.

"Ye-yes Emperor?" he asked.

"Forget the main engines! Just activate the vertical jets to break our descent!"

As much as he wanted Earth to be destroyed, he _didn't_ want it to be destroyed if he was going to be destroyed in the process. The vertical jets were a series of thrusters built into the underside of the ship. If not in use, they were normally within their tubes. He only hoped that the Indomitable's self-destruct hadn't fried them.

He heard a satisfactory roar as the jets came to life, spluttering and choking before igniting, building up to an enormous roar. He noticed the fact that they were descending extremely fast. Too fast. At this rate, the impact with the Earth threatened to do what the S.P.D. fleet hadn't done, and threatened to turn the ship into a burning crater.

"Choustos! Increase power to the vertical jets! Push them to the limit!" He heard pleas, and cries for help. He even heard a single monster scream for his mother. He vaporised that one. He hated wimps.

* * *

Everyone at the Command Centre now had forgotten about their duties and was staring at the screen, watching as the Chimera and its crew did everything to stop the ships near out-of-control descent into and through the Earth's atmosphere. They watched as eight jets roared to life in an attempt to stop the fall.

"Kat! Monitor the ship, and see if it'll crash or not."

Kat walked away to another console at a brisk pace, the sound of her heels hitting the floor resounding through the silent Command Centre. She tapped at a few keys, and checked the display.

"They're increasing power to those thrusters," she reported. She bit her lip as she calculated in her head. "They should be able to stop in time. The only good thing to come out of this is that their weapon systems should be too damaged to be of any use. Even if they are salvageable, their power plant is going to be fried after this."

"Do you know where they are going to stop?" asked Z. Kat shrugged.

"Not a clue."

They watched in silence as the ship continued its fiery descent, Troobian engineering put to the test. Z subtly moved closer to Sky, and tightly held onto his hand.

* * *

Malignticous watched the ground approach with a rare feeling of apprehension. Then again, this wasn't something he could simply blast out of the sky. The hull groaned worryingly as the stress on the superstructure was increased as they tried to stop the ship. Sections of the weakened hull started to warp out of shape, and screeches could be heard as metal bent to the will of gravity and inertia. A warning light popped on, indicating that they were only within a couple of hundred kilometres from the ground.

More screaming arose, and at last, the ship started to slow down, as the engines managed to overcome much of the ships inertia. Whether they would stop in time, however, was based on luck. With a final screech, the ship slowly ground to a halt, barely a few hundred metres from the ground.

"Choustos, land the ship," Malignticous said shakily, as he got back up to his throne.

At last, S.P.D.'s defeat would finally come.

* * *

A.N: Phew, that was quite a long chapter, among the longest I have ever written. Hope you enjoyed it, and I hope it's up to the standards of the last chapter. As for where the _Chimera_ is, it's in a desert some kilometres away from Newtech. Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but hey, this is fiction. Maybe now, we can really get into it. Don't expect the next chapters to be as long as this one, OK? Leave a comment, and I'll see you next time! 


	4. First Contact

Power Rangers SPD: Aftershock

A.N: Alright, after boring you to death with a mindless space battle, it's time for a bit of Ranger action, don't you agree? I'll say it now; I'm not overly good with fight scenes, especially ones that involve a lot of kicking, punching and the like, so don't expect too much there. And the Troobians aboard the _Chimera_ call Malignticous 'Emperor' because he basically is one, or at least an un-official one.

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything related to them, and so on and so forth.

* * *

The damaged and marred _Chimera_ now lacked something, apart from working engines. The armour plating was burnt and had so many craters it could have been mistaken for the moon should someone decide to walk sideways on it.

A large part of the ship's hull was warped, with sections of the hull bent out of shape, and large part of it was blackened, a result of the ships uncontrolled dive into the Earth's atmosphere.

Inside however, Malignticous was just as angry as he was before. While he wasn't a smoking crater, neither was the Earth.

"Choustos, I want you to say that _very_ carefully one more time," he slowly said. The afore-mentioned creature shook noticeably.

"Emperor, it se-se seems that th-the engines and the vertical jets are almost beyond repair," he stuttered.

"Almost? Then why can't you repair them?" Malignticous demanded.

"We lack the parts necessary for the engines but-…"

"But what?"

Choustos took a deep breath. "That's the other half of the pr-pr-problem Emperor. The reactor was already pushing the limit during our battle with the S.P.D. fleet, and the stress we put on it when we used the vertical jets almost caused it to overload. When we landed, I was forced to immediately shut it down, otherwise it would have ex-exploded," explained the expert.

"What about our weapons systems?"

"Over eighty-nine percent of all our weapon systems were destroyed in the battle, and most of those which did survive are also badly damaged from the fall," Choustos reported.

Malignticous trembled with rage, and clenched his armoured hand into a fist. "Does S.P.D. know of our location?"

"They most likely do not. The battle and our descent destroyed a number of their surveillance satellites in the region. Our descent with the vertical jets also made our landing point difficult to pinpoint," dutifully answered Choustos.

"Then something can be salvaged from this situation at least. Prepare an army, and send them to this 'Newtech City'," ordered Malignticous.

Choustos would have paled if his species could. "Emperor, I would highly advise against this decision," he said, fear causing him to shake. Malignticous was known to vaporise people who opposed his decisions.

Malignticous turned his gaze on Choustos. "Why?" he demanded. "There'd better be a good reason, otherwise, your time is up," he said, drawing his blaster.

Choustos gulped noticeably. "Wh-wh when the ba-battle t-took place, our supply ship was de-des-destroyed. On it was the majority of our Krybot soldiers, as well as many of your other warriors," he stuttered.

"When the S.P.D. ship self-destructed, it did so near not only the engines, but near the storage compartment," he explained, bringing up a holographic projection of the _Chimera_, and highlighting the affected areas. "The breach there was sealed off, but also, a large number of Krybots were sucked out, and I estimate we only have about a few hundred Krybots left, and around fifty Blueheads, not to mention how many of the monsters are left. Our numbers of combat robots are also limited to how many we carry aboard this ship."

"So what are you trying to tell me?" asked Malignticous. Many would have the impression that he was grinding his teeth at the moment.

"That a direct assault would be most costly for us, at least until the Krybot construction facilities are back online again in about a week," said Choustos as he did his best to avoid Malignticous' weapon that was pointed in his direction.

"Then what do _you_ propose? And it had better be a good one," added Malignticous, as the blaster started to hum threateningly.

Choustos gulped. "That we take our time, wage a guerrilla war, sending small groups of Krybots with your soldiers to lead them, taking what resources we need," he said quickly.

Malignticous paused for a moment, thinking the plan over. "And what makes you think that a frontal assault won't work?" Malignticous asked.

"I base it on the fact that they most likely have active Rangers," answered Choustos.

"And what difference does a team of cadets in bright colours and fancy costumes make?"

"They most likely are veterans by now, having gone through a war with Grumm," said Choustos. Malignticous growled.

"Very well, I'll accept your plan of action for now," said Malignticous as he holstered the blaster. "So, tell me, where or what do we strike first?"

* * *

At the Delta Command Base, in the Command Centre, the Rangers stood at attention in front of Cruger's desk. Kat was also nearby. Keeping her out of the conversation was next to impossible- she could have heard them from the other side of the Command Centre.

"Rangers, there is something you should know," began Cruger. "As you are aware, the only surviving ship of the battle is somewhere on Earth. We," he glanced at Kat. "Suspect it is somewhere in this state."

"Wait, so Kat wasn't able to pick up where it landed? I thought we had a network of satellites orbiting," asked Sky. He was still somewhat furious at not being able to join the battle, though he knew that he wouldn't be standing here if he had.

"When the ship came down, it brought down with it most of the satellites that formed the network over the Americas, not to mentioned how many were used as targets by the Troobians," answered Kat for Cruger.

"Can't we like, search for it using the Patrol Cycles?" asked Bridge.

"Unfortunately Bridge, that uses up far too many of our resources. We simply cannot afford to waste time searching for the ship. Rather, you must prepare for any attacks," answered Cruger.

"Additionally, the threat level has to be lowered to 'low'," said Kat. The threat level was a gauge used to determine the threat of attack. Most of the time, it was set to minimal, indicating there was little chance of an attack. During the time when Grumm was overhead, it was set to medium.

But because they couldn't locate the _Chimera_, they were forced to put the threat level at low.

A beep at Cruger's desk attracted his attention. He looked down, and saw that the screen indicated that the lifeboats were touching down. "Rangers! The lifeboats are landing. Get out there and help in whatever way you can," he ordered. They saluted, and rushed out of the Command Centre.

Soon after, Kat's communicator beeped. She reached into her pocket, and pulled it out. "Yes?"

"Kat!" Boom's frantic voice came over. There was something else in the background as well- the whining of motorised joints. "You gotta help me! The new maintenance arm we were, well, you were working on has gone nuts! Ahh! Leave me alone!"

Kat sighed. "Boom, I'm coming. Don't do anything stupid," she ordered, be snapping it shut. She looked at Cruger. "Looks like I'm needed," she said as she began to walk out, before Cruger stopped her.

"Kat?"

The feline turned back to face her canine commander. "Yes?"

"You still have your Morpher right?" he asked.

"I do, why?"

"Because I want you to start working on getting it working again," said Cruger.

Kat looked confused. "But sir, I'm not a Ranger," she protested.

"I never said you had to do it. Just start considering the prospect. We may need you this time," said Cruger.

"I'll think about it," Kat carefully answered.

"That's all I can ask for. Dismissed."

* * *

Kat entered her lab to see nothing. Thick smoke was drifting through the lab, making seeing anything even for her nearly impossible, let alone a normal human.

Kat carefully continued down the lab, and soon found the source of the commotion; the robotic arm she and Boon was working on the day she had decided to leave for Galaxy Command. The arm was waving about erratically, and smoke drifted from where it was connected to the power source.

Kat was surprised when Boom came hobbling out from the smoke, looking desperate.

"Kat! Thank God you're here!" he said as Kat approached carefully.

"What did you do Boom?" she asked.

"Ummm, I was working on it, and then I think I spilled something on the control panel," Boom sheepishly admitted.

"Luckily this'll be fairly minor," Kat sighed as she carefully wove around the flailing arm to reach the shut down switch built into the rear of the metallic monstrosity. A flick later, the arm was hanging limply, and Boom carefully walked over to where Kat was crouched underneath the control panel. Boom watched as Kat connected and disconnected wires until her communicator beeped for the second time.

Kat sighed as she stood up from underneath the panel and pulled out her communicator. "Kat here, go ahead."

"Kat?" Dr. Felix's voice came through.

Kat looked surprised. "Hey Felix, what do you need?"

"Do you or did you have any medical training?"

"A little. I'm a scientific doctor, not a medical one. You know that."

"Well, if you had some experience, can you come to the Infirmary and lend me a hand? There's too many wounded here, and I need some help."

"Alright, I'm coming. Just give me a few minutes, and I'll see if the Rangers have any medical experience," Kat said before closing her communicator. She turned to Boom, who was privy to her conversation and was trying to look discreet. "Boom, can you finish up here for me?"

"Bu-but I can't do this kind of work, Kat. You know that," protested Boom.

"Boom, it's easy. You know how to do, and I know because I taught you how only a few months ago, and you were there…unless you were paying attention to something else…" Kat trailed off.

Boom blushed. "Alright, I think I can do it…"

"Great, thanks Boom." With that, Kat walked out of the lab and headed to the Infirmary.

* * *

Outside of the Delta Command Base, the four Rangers of B-Squad were sitting down on the bench, thoroughly exhausted. They had hauled and helped wounded cadets and officers to the Infirmary for over half an hour, and despite all the physical training they had gone through for many years they were un-prepared for the sights.

"You still angry at Cruger for not letting you go up there?" asked Syd as Sky swept the training grounds with his gaze. There were lifeboats everywhere, and cadets and officers continued to pour out of even more lifeboats that were landing.

"A little," admitted Sky. "But, I'm not really sure anymore. Look at all these people. Seeing this, I think I know why Cruger wanted us away from that battle."

"Don't you miss the old days?" asked Z. "You know, none of this space warfare stuff, just robots and monsters we could punch and kick?"

"I didn't like those days," remarked Bridge.

"Still, those days are probably better than the next few days," said Sky.

"What makes you think that?" questioned Syd.

"Well, Malignticous is hardly going to stay quiet forever. He's going to attack in some way pretty soon, so we better be ready. We'll head for the simulator after we help the last of these people," announced Sky, standing up. Z stood up soon after, and within seconds four of her replicates were standing next to her.

"Let's get to work again," said Sky but at that moment, their Morphers all beep. All simultaneously reach for their own, and stopped when Sky reached and opened his first. "Sky here."

"Sky, it's Kat. Dr. Felix and I need help down at the Infirmary. Do any of you have medical training? Apart from the basic course you went through, though," came Kat's voice.

"I did," perked up Syd.

"Great. Get to the Infirmary. We need a good deal of help. Kat out."

Syd nodded, even though Kat couldn't see her and looked at the rest of her friends.

"I'll catch ya later," she said before bolting for the Infirmary.

* * *

Jack was used to not having much. Being orphans, he and Z were forced to steal, but only enough to feed and clothe themselves, occasionally more to help others.

After leaving S.P.D. he'd realised how much he had gained. He had people who cared for him, people who were his friends and even considered as a second family.

Now, Jack had someone to love, and someone to love him. He'd never felt as good. It was almost a perfect day.

Jack and Ally walked through the park and past milling people, couples and children, all looking carefree without a worry. Jack and Ally joined them in their carefree state, strolling through the paths past the pond hand in hand.

"Come on Jack," Ally pleaded as they walked through the park. "Just one photo, please?"

"Come on Ally, I'm not a photo pleasant person," said Jack as he tried to dissuade her from taking his picture.

"Please?" she begged.

Jack was about to say 'no' when he saw the eyes she made at him. Ally rarely begged him, and he was stunned when she made puppy eyes at him. "…Alright…" he reluctantly agreed.

The two were about to take their picture when an out of place explosion roared across the park. They looked around to see the source of the commotion: a group of Krybots firing their arm-mounted lasers at almost anything they could see.

Civilians were running for their lives even as parts of the ground, trees or bushes exploded and burst into flame. Ally saw the look in Jack's eyes and realised what he was going to do.

"Don't do it Jack," she pleaded for the second time. "Don't do it. You're not S.P.D. anymore."

"I may not be part of S.P.D. Ally, but I can't just run away and let other people get hurt," Jack sighed. "Go and take shelter, Ally. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," he reassured her.

Ally opened her mouth to protest, but then shut it. She leaned up and gave Jack a quick kiss on the cheek. "Be careful," she said.

Jack just nodded before running off after the group of Krybots, and skidded to a halt only a few metres away, the Krbots still oblivious to his presence.

"Hey, tin cans!" Jack shouted. The Krybots stopped their random attacks and looked at him. "Try shooting a _real_ target!"

While the taunt didn't affect the Krybots, they still targeted him and fired. Jack ducked and sidestepped the majority of the poorly aimed shots before leaping into action.

The Krybot he landed in front of raised its arm to blast Jack, but received a kick that sent it flying back into two of its companions. Jack continued to fight until he was sent backwards when two Krybots grabbed both his arms and threw him before he could phase out of their cold grip. He landed heavily on a pathway, and grunted with effort to get up.

"Come on Sky, where in the world are you," Jack muttered.

* * *

In the Command Centre at the Delta Command Base, Cruger wasn't surprised to hear the alarms go off. _It was only a matter of time_, he thought.

With Kat at the Infirmary, he activated a communications link with the B-Squad's Morphers. "Rangers! Krybot attack at the park," he informed them as he viewed the attack through the main screen on his desk which displayed a map of Newtech. "Get there now! There are civilians in danger!"

On the other end of the connection, Z and Bridge were gathered around Sky who was holding his Morpher. "Yes sir, we're on our way," answered Sky, but before he could close it, Z butted in.

"Syd, you heard that didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did. You guys go first. I'll tell Kat I'm needed and I meet you there, k?"

"Alright Pinky. See you there." Sky looked at Z impatiently. "I'm done, I'm done," repeated Z, hands help up in a gesture of surrender before lowering them.

Sky flipped his Morpher closed, and readied it. Bridge and Z did the same behind him. "Ready?" he asked.

"Ready!" they replied, before all three simultaneously called out their signature phrase. "S.P.D. Emergency!"

* * *

"Whoa!" Jack shouted as he narrowly avoided the bladed arm of a Krybot. He phased his body just in time to avoid the second swing which was aimed downwards. The blade passed harmlessly through his body, and Jack smirked as the Krybot stumbled forward, as a result of swinging too hard and not hitting anything.

Jack lashed out with a kick which the stumbling robot flying into a pair of its companions. All three crashed into the ground. A pair of Krybots fired, and the twin blasts which missed Jack sent him flying back.

Jack landed heavily, rolling back. He continued his uncontrolled roll which caused yet another pair of lasers to miss, and stopped to hear booted feet run up. Jack looked up to see the Red, Blue and Yellow Ranger run up.

"Jack?" said Sky, outfitted in red.

Jack grinned. "What took you guys so long eh? You must be getting sloppy," he joked, only to duck another laser bolt.

"Can we continue this later?" asked Bridge.

"We can catch up after we take care of this group," said Z already charging off into the Krybots, with Bridge following suit, both drawing their weapons. Jack looked at Sky.

"Better catch up or she'll be wearing red," remarked Jack.

Sky smiled beneath his helmet, and drawing his twin blasters, ran in to action with Jack following closely.

Z and Bridge was already engaged, handling the small group easily until more erupted from the small canisters they were carried in. Within seconds, the group of Krybots grew to a much larger horde.

Z was in the middle of them, hacking and slashing. She leapt up to avoid a sweep kick from a Krybot and when she landed, she slashed it across the chest, sending it flying back in a hail of sparks. Two more grabbed her arms, and refused to be shaken off. Z was about to be thrown when a blast from Bridge and Sky destroyed both of the offenders.

"Thanks guys," she called out over the sounds of lasers, kicks and the whining of Krybot circuitry being destroyed.

Bridge was caught up in the moment, as he counted off a consecutive 'kills'. "…five…six…seven…eight…"

_Oh no, he's going to lose count_, thought Sky, Jack and Z at the same time.

"….nine…" Bridge continued, sending a ninth Krybot down.

_Here it comes_, all of them thought again whilst battling Krybots.

"…ten!" The tenth Krybot Bridge struck hit the ground with most of its chest circuitry exposed and damaged. Sky would have shaken his head, had he not been frying Krybots with blasts from his twin blasters.

Right then, Sky's Morpher went off. He finished off the Krybot he was blasting at with a swift kick, and grabbed the Morpher. "Sky here."

"Sky, those Krybots are little more than a diversion! An attacker is attempting to break into the foundry," came Cruger's voice. "Leave the Krybots and get to the foundry now!"

"What about the Krybots?" asked Sky. "There's still a number remaining," he added, kicking away another Krybot who had charged at him, before blasting another.

"Carson can handle them," ordered Cruger.

"And Syd? She's not here yet."

"I've already informed Drew. She's on her way to the foundry as well."

"Yes sir, we're on our way," Sky said before closing the Morpher. Looking across the battle scene, he saw Bridge alternating between his Striker's sword and blaster mode to keep Krybots away.

"Bridge!" he called out. His blue-clad team mate turned to him.

"Yeah?"

"Can you handle the rest of the Krybots?" Sky called out.

"No problemo," said Bridge, punching away a stray Krybot that had wandered too close. "Me and Jack can take them."

"Sure?"

"Yeah, we're sure. Go already," yelled Jack, hammering a Krybot with enough punches and kicks to knock it out of commission.

"Alright. Z! Let's go!" Sky shouted. Z stopped only to blast a Krybot that had leapt at her, and rushed towards Sky, who was already hopping onto his Patrol Cycle. Z was about to run to the Delta Cruiser when Sky shouted "Z! Just hop on! The Cycle's faster than the Cruiser!"

Z stopped, and ran to the Cycle, jumping on behind Sky, who quickly gunned the engine and roared off.

Jack looked at the two roaring off only for a moment longer, and turned back to the business of Krybot destruction. "Well Bridge," said Jack as they found themselves back to back. "Look's like its just you and me now, buddy," Jack said as he cracked his knuckles, eyeing the group of Krybots gathered around them, all continuously pumping their arms up and down.

"Come on you tin cans, bring it!" Jack shouted as they rushed into the fight, punching and blasting, with lasers flying all over the place. Adrenaline coursed through the Blue and ex-Ranger's veins, taking the battle to the next level.

* * *

At the foundry's enormous collection and retrieval yard, where steel blocks of every shape and size littered the yard, Cruger and Syd, fully morphed, were doing battle against one of Malignticous' soldiers. The vaguely scorpion shaped fiend was one of the Troobian Overlord's weaker soldiers, and was considered expendable, or rather, more expendable than the others.

The Shadow Ranger was locked in a vicious battle, with the Shadow Saber clanging against the claws of the soldier. Syd moved around quietly, trying to move behind the scorpion shaped monster. It wasn't hard to move around- rather, it was finding the right path to get behind the monster. The yard was a maze without any real recognisable features, save for the half a dozen clear spaces where Cruger and the monster were swinging at each other. Steel blade clashed against hard armour, and both were locked in a battle for supremacy.

Cruger wasn't an amateur at using the Shadow Saber. The weapon had seen all of the battles he had been through, and had survived them all. But the creature he was staring down had the advantage of natural weapons- meaning that its weapons couldn't be knocked off unless the entire limb or part of it was lopped off.

Currently both weapons were locked against each other, and their users were trying to overwhelm each other. Cruger knew that he wasn't strong enough to hold back the claw forever, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before the other claw would find its way to him. Cruger knew that Syd was around somewhere. It was impossible to keep track of anything in the yard, but even more so when he was engaged in a swashbuckling battle, with claws and sabers instead of smallswords.

Doggie pushed against the monster, who also pushed back. He pushed one last time, and lifted his Saber at the same time. The other combatant, unprepared for the move stumbled backwards, his chest exposed when Doggie delivered a swift kick to its chest. It stumbled back even further, until it was thrown forward and onto the ground by a series of lasers fired by the Pink Ranger, who had snuck up behind it.

Syd ran up to where Doggie was kneeling, panting with exhaustion. "Good work Syd," he said as he slowly got up. The scorpion also got up.

"Let's finish him," ordered Cruger before both of them charged at the oversized arachnid.

It roared with anger, before lifting up the stinger which hadn't been used. An ominous hum began to sound, and the end of the stinger, which was pointed at the two Rangers, began to glow a bright green.

"Down!" shouted Cruger, as he pushed Syd and himself to the ground, just as a thin, bright green beam lanced across where they were a moment ago. Syd fired her Striker from the ground, hitting various places on the monster's chest. It howled with pain, and crashed into the ground.

Doggie glanced back to where the beam had it. There was a large steel block behind them, which was now bisected. The edges where the beam had cut through were glowing red.

"Syd, don't get hit by that beam," warned Cruger. "It can cut through steel, so I don't want to know what it'll do to us."

"Right."

They both charged off into battle again, with the sounds of weapons clashing filling the air, almost blocking off the sound of an approaching engine.

* * *

Outside the yard, Sky was pushing the engine as fast as he could. Z was hanging onto his waist, and eyed the displays mounted on the cycle's dashboard, which displayed the status of the weapons, armour integrity and speed.

The GPS tracker built in showed the location of their team-mates, and they were rapidly approaching the yard. They roared through the gate, and into the maze.

"Do you know what you're doing?" asked Z nervously.

"Trust me," said Sky, as he slowed down just for a second to turn without crashing. They could hear the sounds of battle going on, and the GPS showed that Syd and Cruger were in a large empty space just in front. Also in front was a ramp, and Sky aimed for it.

"If you're wrong Sky, this is the last time I'm getting into a motorised vehicle with you," warned Z as they got closer to the ramp. Sky slowed down enough so that they would fly into the battle, rather than over it.

The Patrol Cycle hit the ramp, raced up it and into the sky. Below, they saw Syd get hit by the tail, which sent her flying back, sparks bursting from her chest. Cruger was hammering away with the Shadow Saber, but was hit too when the monster turned Doggie's previous move against him, before swiping the Shadow Ranger across the chest, which too sent the Shadow Ranger flying over to Syd who was holding her chest and trying to get up.

Sky aimed the laser cannons mounted on the bike at monster, and fired. The twin cannons sent large blasts of energy which struck the monster and the area around it. The subsequent explosions sent the monster flying.

Sky landed and stopped the Cycle in front of the downed Shadow and Pink Rangers.

"Calvary's here!" announced Z as she hopped off the Cycle at the same time as Sky.

"About time," groaned Syd as Z helped her up. "Where were you? Making out?"

"We can't teleport Syd," said Sky, who watched the monster slowly get back up. "Come on Z, let's get him!"

With not a word more, the new arrivals jumped into battle with the monster.

* * *

A.N: Alright, I lied when I said that most chapters weren't going to be as long as the last one. I got caught up, and before I knew it, it was just as long as the last one. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and as always, feel free to leave a comment. And I'll start on the sequel to Serene Reflections when this story is completed. Don't worry, this isn't going to be a really long thing, ten chapters max. It might seem like a lot, but, I hope to get it done soon. See ya all next chappie! 


	5. Ghost in the Warehouse

Power Rangers SPD: Aftershock

A.N: Alright, here we go again. I hope the last chapter clears up why Malignticous is only sending a single soldier/monster at a time and smaller groups of Krybots. Enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything related to them, and so on and so forth.

* * *

Bridge ducked a blow aimed for his helmeted head. The swing from the Krybot's weapon swung through air, and Bridge counter-attacked with a near point-blank blast from his Striker. The laser and the heat from such a blast resulted in the Krybot's circuitry frying and melting. A quick look around revealed that the majority of the Krybots were lying on the ground, some without visible damage, most with holes in their chests. Only a few Krybots remained, and Jack was battling the majority.

Bridge, having the advantage of the protection of the suit and weapons had finished off his group of Krybots with relative ease. Seeing four of the robotic soldiers sneaking up on Jack, he ran towards the group. A quick shot from the Striker in its blaster form was enough to get their attention.

The group gave up on sneaking up on Jack and fired on Bridge. He jumped up, and the lasers flew below him, and he landed with the Striker pointed at the group before firing and knocking out two with precise bolts. The other two returned fire, and while one missed by centimetres, the other struck Bridge directly in the chest.

Stumbling back, Bridge cried out when he fell back into a crater created by the many lasers that had been fired.

"Ooff!" Bridge grunted when he landed at the bottom of the small crater.

"Bridge! You alright?" asked Jack as he fended off more Krybots, kicking away one and throwing one over his shoulder.

"I'm fine," said Bridge as he leapt out and fired on the two which he had missed before. They went down easily, and having dealt with the group, Bridge rushed towards Jack, where the Krybots were steadily closing a ring around the former Ranger.

With practised ease, the Blue Ranger switched the Striker to its blade form. Reaching the edge of the iron ring, Bridge grabbed the closest Krybot by its shoulder and threw it back. Running into the hole, he slashed away at the surrounding Krybots.

Jack vaulted over a Krybot and kicked it in the back. The robot flew forward, and satisfied for the moment, Jack punched another in the face. Ignoring the pain from that, he rammed his knee into it and then kicked it.

The robot went down like a rock.

Two more tried to grab his arms, but as soon as he felt their cold grip, he instantly phased his body. While one had a grip on his forearm before he had phased, the other hadn't and stumbled forward. Jack jerked his other forearm back and through the Krybot. The instant it was clear, he slammed it against the back of the confused Krybot. It crashed to the ground.

Looking around he saw Bridge slashing away like there was no tomorrow. Krybot after Krybot crashed to the ground under the blade or the force of Bridge's other attacks.

"You fine there Bridge?" he asked.

"Never…been…better," Bridge called back while slashing away.

Surveying the damage, Jack looked around. Krybot parts littered the entire park, and large sections of the park were dotted with craters and the once lush scenery burnt away.

"C and D-Squad will have their hands full," Jack muttered, knowing fully well that it was the lower Squads who cleaned up after a battle.

* * *

At the foundry's collection/ retrieval yard, Sky and Z battle the monster in tandem while Syd and Cruger tried to recover from the walloping they had received.

Z was in close with the monster, trading slashes and kicks. Z's Striker had the advantage of being faster and therefore, Z could get in more hits than the monster could.

"Z! Duck!" yelled Sky from behind her. Z did so, and the stinger flew through where she had been moments before. Sky took advantage of the fact that Z was no longer blocking his field of fire and unleashed a fury of red lasers from his personal blasters.

The monster staggered under the furious barrage, and fell. Syd and Cruger stumbled over to where Z and Sky were standing, watching the monster.

"Is it down now?" asked Syd.

"Hope so," answered Z.

They watched for a moment, then just before Sky was about to step up and judge the monster, it rose. Syd groaned.

"Rangers! Get to it!" shouted Cruger, and they all as one rushed the monster, preparing their weapons. It had other plans. As they rushed, the same cutting beam was emitted, and struck the ground in front of them.

While they jumped over it, it had slowed them down enough for the monster to grab one of the sheared off steel parts lying around and swing it like a bat, striking all four across the chest and sending them back. Once they were on the ground, it threw the steel pole at the Rangers. Cruger looked up, and sidestepped in time to avoid becoming impaled on the pole.

Syd and Z charged again, and supporting each other, struck it with a rapid series of strikes. Sparks flew from its chest as the Strikers left their mark on the armour.

Cruger stepped up, and when the girls were flung back from a vicious swipe from the monster's arm, Cruger timed his attack so that the Shadow Saber slid in under the arm and across the already weakened armour. It fell back and crashed into a stack of steel columns which amazing didn't fall.

Taking his que, Sky stepped up and placed his Delta Blasters together.

"Delta Blasters, Combo mode!" he announced, before taking aim at the monster, and pulled the trigger. The combined weapons sent a large blast of energy at the monster, and in the resulting explosion, it collapsed, exhaustion from the battle and the various assaults the Rangers had made taking its toll.

"Let's hope there aren't any giant robots around," quipped Syd as Cruger pulled out and activated his Morpher's Judgment mode. The monster stared around wildly, the large red cross and white circle flashing.

"You are charged with dangerous assault on S.P.D. personnel and property damage," said Cruger. The Morpher only took another moment more before the red cross flashed.

"Guilty," Cruger said, and activated the Morpher's Confinement mode. Another bright flash and the scorpion monster was contained in a plain card, which Bridge said could be used as playing cards if they ever ran out or were bored.

Sky walked over and picked up the card. The monster was roaring in defiance, like every criminal they arrested.

"Well done Rangers. Carson, do you read?" asked Cruger.

"Yeah, Bridge here. What's up Commander?"

"You done with the Krybots?"

"They're just a pile of scrap metal; you better get the clean-up crews here, Commander, there's a huge mess where the park is," Bridge reported.

"Alright. Get back to the Base," ordered Cruger, before looking at the Rangers gathered around. "This applies to all of you. Move out!"

* * *

At night, even Rangers needed rest. All four were sound asleep and resting up. Even R.I.C., the Ranger's ever-so faithful companion was resting in Kat's lab, curled up as best it could in the corner. A series of zs went across the faceplate, and sleeping noises were emitted every now and then.

Kat wasn't asleep. But she wasn't committed to doing something productive, which was rare for the scientist. She was staring at the schematics of a morpher; a temporary one to be more specific. The schematics depicted and detailed almost all the details of one; Kat had little need for it though, having a hand in designing the Ranger's Morphers.

It helped her think though. It was the only reason why it was still on. Kat continued to stare at it, as if it would provide answers to her dilemma. Kat sighed.

Did they really need her as a Ranger?

They had a full team, but Kat knew that from the records, a full team more often than not consisted of six Rangers. And there were situations where a sixth Ranger was needed.

Maybe it would be best if she did restore her Morpher, Kat decided. It may come in handy one day. Glancing at the clock, and seeing how late it was, Kat decided to put it off for now, and made a note to being restoring the power source for her Morpher. She saved any work she was doing on the computer, and shut it down. Sliding out of the chair, she headed off towards her quarters.

Due to the large increases in personnel as a result of taking in the survivors from the battle in orbit, some rooms had to be shared. Sky now inhabited a room with Bridge, and the Squad leader for the rest of the Squads shared dormitories with their squad mates.

While Kat was entitled to having her quarters all to herself, she had offered to share it with Boom, who had to move out of his own, being the junior of the two. While initially refusing, Kat had pointed out that he would have more room if he shared with her, as well as pointing out they knew each other better and she was more tolerable of him than others, or else he would most likely be put with someone who would tolerate his habits less.

Reaching her quarters, Kat crept in as quietly as the shortened form of her name suggested. It had been re-arranged, with two beds at opposite ends of the rather spacious room. On her side, a bookshelf displayed multiple certificates and a small collection of photos, as well as a few books, a majority in English.

Boom was sleeping, sprawled across the bed. Kat was beginning to feel exhaustion from the day's work settling in, and decided to let it creep in. Changing out of her normal daywear, Kat settled in for the night.

* * *

The mind was often what personified a person. The mind was what made a person what they are, whether it be cruel or compassionate. And throughout the night, not everyone slept.

Some partied, enjoying life to the maximum, while others preyed upon victims. One such person was not doing those things. Rather, the person worked on something with a far more destructive intent.

The person was human, but he could hardly be classified as such, given that his mind was completely devoid of what made a human a human, such as moral limits and understanding. The person glanced at the clock. Time was plentiful, but he'd need every second. There was no time to waste.

* * *

Several days later, three members of B-Squad ran one of the Base's many courses. The one they were on required teamwork to proceed, and sometime ago, the full B-Squad had trouble with it, namely getting through it without a fight breaking out. Today, the three were working flawlessly as a team.

Syd was once again busy in the Infirmary; even days later there were injuries to treat, however, most of the serious ones had been dealt with. Sky and Bridge gave Z a boost to climb over a wall, before she reached down and helped haul Bridge up. Together, the two hauled Sky up as well. The final part was a run through nearly metre high grass and mud. It was the easiest part of the course, apart from hidden trees smacking some un-suspecting course goer across the shin, and hidden roots which tripped up many a cadet.

Over the last several days, there had been a multitude of attacks across Newtech City, mostly consisting of Malignticous' soldiers and a group or two of Krybots. Each attack was always aimed at some production centre, such as the foundry earlier, or more recently the civilian laboratories where several magnification lenses were taken.

Reaching their belongings on a bench, the three walked to it just in time for their Morphers to beep. Again, Sky reached it first. "Sky here."

"Sky, meeting in the Command Centre. Get there now," came Cruger's voice. "After you clean up," he added.

"Yes sir," Sky said before closing the morpher. "Guys, meeting in the Command Centre. Let's clean up and get there," he ordered. Z and Bridge were quick to jump to carry out his orders. No-one liked having mud on their clothes and skin for longer than necessary.

Soon, a freshly cleaned and uniformed B-Squad stood at attention in the pristine Command Centre. Cruger paced in front of them, and Kat as always stood at one of the many consoles around the room.

"B-Squad, it has come to Dr. Manx's and my attention that the attacks we have endured lately are not random acts of terror," began Cruger.

"Yeah, I mean, they're always attacking some of our production facilities," mused Bridge.

"Could they be building a weapon?" asked Syd.

"Just like Grumm," sighed Z.

"Worse," said Kat as she walked over. "We think Malignticous may be attempting to repair his vessel."

"How is a spaceship worse than a gigantic robot right in the middle of Newtech?" asked Syd.

"Because if it gets into space, we don't have the firepower to knock it out, and it has a free shot at us," said Kat.

"Luckily, we have been able to isolate some of the required materials that Malignticous must acquire before his vessel is space-worthy," said Cruger.

"And you want us to scope the places out?" asked Z.

"No. Sensors have been set up around those sites, and I need you to be at full alert status," said Cruger. "Syd, you'll need to start training with your team again. The Infirmary can handle the rest of the patients."

"Yes sir," said Syd.

"Well B-Squad, that is all. Continue training, and be ready for anything. Dismissed."

The four members of B-Squad saluted and filed out of the Command Centre. Cruger then turned to Kat who was back at one of the innumerable consoles around the room.

"Kat, how's the Morpher coming along?" he asked.

"I'm still working on it," was her cryptic response.

"Well, get it done soon, because we might not be standing here next week," said Cruger.

"I'll do my best," Kat replied.

* * *

Only a few miles away from Newtech city lay the _Chimera_. The sickly coloured ship blended in with the drab colours of the surrounding environment, providing it some degree of protection.

Inside, a pair of Krybots and a Bluehead escorted a human along the corridor which led to the bridge/throne room. The human kept glancing around, his interest in the ship obvious. Inside the room, Maligitcous was seated at the throne with his back to the door, and so had to rotate the throne so that he could see the new arrival. The human had pale skin, and his dark hair was spiked up in seemingly random directions. His dark eyes constantly shifted, and had a menacing aura and demeanour.

The Bluehead, having much higher and more advanced processors, bowed low. The standard Krybots were incapable of doing so, and kept pumping their arms upwards and downwards, never leaving the human's side.

"Emperor," the Bluehead announced in its deep rumbling voice.

Malignticous looked at the bowing Bluehead and then at the human standing.

"Who is this?" he hissed.

The human stepped forward. "I am Therntia, Emperor," he said with flourish and stooped low.

Malignticous pulled out his blaster. "I don't care who you are. All I know is that in three seconds, you are going to be a smear on the floor," he said.

"Before you do that Emperor, I do have some, _gifts_, for you."

Malignticous lowered the blaster slightly. "I don't care for flowers and chocolates," he said.

"No, I have gifts that might allow you to win this war against Space Patrol Delta," cleared up Therntia.

Now Malignticous was truly interested. "What do these, _gifts_, as you call them consist of? He asked.

Therntia produced a small device from one of the pockets in his trench coat. It was small, round, and resembled a coin. It was no larger than five centimetres in diameter.

"This is a disruption device," he explained. He went on about the specifics, until Malignticous stopped him.

"Perhaps you can be of assistance to us after all," said Malignticous. "Take him to the special holding cell."

* * *

In the Delta Command Base's Rec Room, the four Rangers sat slumped on the couches. Rest was a rare luxury these days, days that were filled with fighting and training. As an inevitable consequence of the constant fighting and training, tempers were at boiling point within the Squad. Syd and Z had returned to their old bickering ways, from anything such as Z's choice of music to Syd's attitude.

Sky wasn't faring much better, having Bridge as a room mate also inevitably reduced the amount of sleep a person could gain during the night. Therefore, Sky had turned to creating model aeroplanes for enjoyment. Bridge was eating buttered up toast. There was a difference, he had insisted.

Sky tried to turn a proverbial blind eye from Syd and Z's rapidly escalating argument as it grew in both volume and intensity.

"Z, you have to turn down your infernal music!" Syd was close to shouting.

"I wear headphones Syd," Z retorted.

"And I can still hear it!"

"So? It sounds much better louder," said Z.

And so it went on. The argument continued until it reached the point where insults flew across like a tennis ball in the Australian or U.S. Open.

"Look here 'princess', I do whatever the hell I want!" Z snapped.

"Oh really? I do as well," said Syd.

"That's not surprising, _princess_," mocked Z.

"Oh, go kiss Sky!" Syd nearly screamed. "You know you want to!"

"Umm, I don't think Sky wanted to hear that," stated Bridge as he looked over at Sky. Sure enough, his leader was growing red; whether from embarrassment or anger, Bridge couldn't tell unless he read Sky's aura, but it was something Bridge rarely did.

Z whirled on Bridge. "If our _fearless_ leader doesn't like us talking, then he can kiss my a-…"

Before Z could finish her sentence, the alarms began to wail. Sky set down his model plane which he had just finished, and sprinted for the Command Centre. The other three members of B-Squad simply stared after him.

"I think that was our cue," remarked Bridge.

There was no reply, until Syd, Z and Bridge leapt up and all but ran to the Command Centre.

* * *

"Kat, what's going on?" Cruger barked as he walked in the Command Centre.

"Someone or something has staged an attack at the power station," reported Kat as she went over the computers that displayed the information, and a great deal of it useless. Kat continued to filter the information and constantly updated reports.

The Command Centre doors hissed open, and in walked Sky.

Cruger looked at Sky. "Where are the others, Tate?" he asked. The three other members of B-Squad filed in. "Never mind. Rangers, there's an attack at the power station! Suit up!"

"Why would Malignticous attack the power station?" Syd asked as she pulled out her morpher.

"Probably to gain something," replied Sky as they morphed. "But, whatever it is, we'll stop it."

* * *

Mentioning the power station in Newtech almost always referred to the central power station. There were a series of smaller generators scattered across the city, but the main one was the nuclear power station located in the western part of Newtech, where most of the factories and production facilities were located and required more immediate power.

The gate to the power station was smashed open. Around the checkpoint lay the bodies of several security guards, some with their weapons still clutched in their hands. A black coated figure stepped around the bodies, holding a pair of protected briefcases that was surrounded and insulated, aimed at stopping lethal radiation leaking. The cases could stand up to several laser blasts before even scarring.

Which was why they fell to the ground undamaged when the owner was thrown back by a pair of laser blasts. The figure stood up when the red and blue Patrol Cycles roared up, followed closely by the Delta Cruiser. Sky stepped off the Cycle, followed by Bridge. Syd and Z hopped out of the Delta Cruiser, and followed Sky and Bridge as they approach the figure.

"S.P.D., you're under arrest," said Sky.

The figure said nothing; instead, it was watching the morphed Rangers coming towards it.

Bridge watched the black-clad person with concern. It was roughly human, in the fact that it was bipedal, and had two arms and a head. But nothing else was visible, as it was all clad in black, giving it the appearance of a ninja, Bridge thought.

The ninja/monster reached for the fallen cases, but Bridge had reacted before it could touch them. Bridge had his Deltamax Striker out and had fired two shots, which hit the monster's hand and wrist. It snapped it back and rubbed it gingerly.

"Space Patrol Delta," it spoke for the first time. Its voice had a hissing quality to it and was obviously male. "I knew I'd eventually run into you meddlers. Leave before you end up in something way out of your league."

Instead of answering, Sky retorted with a fury of lasers from his sidearms. The agile creature however, backflipped three times in succession and avoided the blasts. Though they couldn't see it, Sky and the others had the impression that the creature was smirking.

"Catch me if you can!" the creature taunted before leaping away and running down into an alley, leaving the briefcases behind.

"Rangers," came Cruger's voice over their morphers. "Go after him. We'll be better off in the long run if we can capture more of Malignticous' soldiers."

"Yes sir!" replied the Rangers, before taking off in pursuit of the creature.

* * *

Minutes and many turns later, the Rangers catch sight of the elusive creature.

"There he is!" Sky shouted before letting off a quick shot from his blasters.

The laser went wide, hitting the wall far to the left of the stealthy soldier.

It turned towards the pursuing Rangers, not at all concerned with the laser that had missed it.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" he taunted, before running into a deserted warehouse, going by its outward appearance.

The Rangers ran up to it and stopped outside the entrance it had gone in.

"What now?" asked Z.

"We go in. We capture it," replied Sky.

"What if it's a trap?" asked Syd.

"Then we'll go S.W.A.T.," answered Sky. "That should give us enough protection."

"Alright," came the simultaneous reply.

"S.P.D. S.W.A.T. Mode!" they call called out, and the armoured vests, communications equipment formed over their chests and helmets respectively.

The Rangers carefully entered the warehouse, their Delta Enforcers out and pointed in any possible direction. Once inside, they were greeted by an enormous facility with cargo containers and boxes stacked and scattered as far as the eye could see.

Of more concerning matters was the relatively clear space in front of them. Standing in that clear space was the elusive soldier they had been chasing. It stood with its arms crossed across its chest; arrogance flowed from it in rivers.

"Well, well, well," it said. "Looks like you actually followed me here," it chuckled.

"S.P.D., you're under arrest!" Sky repeated.

"You're going to have to do better than that," it said. "If you want to bring me in, you're in for a fight."

"Looks like we found the right place then," said Z.

"If you can't hit me when you can see me," it said, with an obvious point at Sky. "What makes you think you'll do any better if you _can't_ see me?"

The ninja-look-alike threw a small device on the floor, and Sky felt like a wave of static electricity had coursed through him. But the feeling was gone in a second, and then, the soldier faded from view.

"Ever wonder why they call me 'Ghost'?"

Sky blinked. He barely had time to comprehend the disappearance before the soldier re-appeared right in front of him and smashed across his chest and caused him to fly back and land at the feet of his team mates.

"Sky!" Bridge and Z shouted at the same time before the Blue, Yellow and Pink Rangers unleashed a torrent of lasers from their Delta Enforcers at the place Sky had stood previously. The soldier flipped up onto one of the containers and jumped off. The lasers sparked as they hit everything except their target.

Syd stooped down and helped Sky to his feet. "What was that?" she asked.

"I don't know," said Sky, as he held his chest. Whatever it was, it sure packed a punch. "Use your S.W.A.T. scanners," Sky ordered. The scanners mounted onto their helmets had a variety of vision modes, and it helped when it came to finding invisible foes.

When Sky turned it on however, he was greeted with something far different. The visor was all blurry, and sections were moving and wobbling, and static filled the visor occasionally. He frowned, and turned it off. It returned to normal, and he saw everything like it should have been.

What was even more disturbing was that the scanners couldn't pick up any heat or cold source. He looked at his team mates, all glancing around, and then turned the thermal imagers on again. The same view from the last time he turned it on greeted him and he couldn't see his team mates, when they should have shown up as a red blot in the shape of a human.

"Did you get anything?" he asked. All shook their heads negatively.

"Did your visor stuff up as well?" Bridge asked. Sky, Z and Syd nodded.

"Something strange is going on," Syd muttered.

"As much as I still dislike you from before Pinky, I have to agree with you," said Z.

* * *

Little did they know that back at the Delta Command Base, another problem was arising.

"Doggie!" Kat called out as she stared at the screen in front of her with concern.

"What is it Kat?" he asked as he walked over.

"I've lost the Ranger's signals," she softly said, just loud enough so that only he could hear.

"What do you mean?"

"You know how they were stopping that attack?" Kat asked.

"Yes," Cruger answered.

"Shortly after, they chased the attacker to the abandoned storage warehouse in the industrial district. They morphed into S.W.A.T. and entered the warehouse. Shortly after that, they just disappeared," said Kat with a frown.

"Keep trying to find them," ordered Cruger.

"Already on it. Satellite 7's maximum range just reaches Newtech. It has thermal and infrared sensors. Maybe it can pick up something," said Kat as she typed in commands to the computer at an extremely rapid rate.

"Satellite 7 is in position, sir," reported Kat. "I'm brining up its results from the thermal and infrared sensors on the screen."

Cruger peered over Kat's shoulder as she worked. The display showed life going on as normal throughout Newtech, and where Kat had lost the Ranger's signal, there was nothing.

"This is disturbing Kat. Keep working on it. Try contacting them," he ordered.

"Don't you think I would have tried that before? There's no signal _or_ response."

Cruger growled. "Alright, I'm going down there. Keep track of them, and alert me to anything new," he said before morphing.

* * *

Back at the warehouse, the four Rangers were carefully making their way down the long lanes created by the mass of cargo containers. They had their Delta Enforcers aimed at any and every possible direction, constantly sweeping through corners and the like.

"This is unnerving," whispered Bridge.

"Tell me about it," whispered back Z.

"I think I saw something," said Syd as she carefully checked a small section that reached a dead end, the others following her.

Seeing nothing, Syd was turned and was surprised when Ghost appeared out of nowhere in front of her, and struck Syd across the chest, before whipping around and catching Z with a kick that sent her spinning into the side of the cargo container.

"Syd! Z!" Bridge and Sky shouted.

At the same time as Sky, Bridge levelled his Delta Enforcer at Ghost as he attacked their female team mates. They both fired at the agile attacker who ducked and sidestepped every shot, before rolling to get behind another container to escape.

Bridge, with his psychic senses had an idea of what Ghost was trying to do, and fired at where it rolled. It rolled straight into several shots and was lit up in sparks. One shot hit its leg and blasted through the material there. It screamed as it was sent flying back. Despite being injured, it still pounced up onto a container and leapt away. Sky and Bridge heard a _thud_ as the injured soldier landed on his injured leg and fell.

"Good shot Bridge," said Sky before running over to Syd and Z. "You all OK?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're fine," Z answered for both of them, as Sky helped her up and Bridge did the same for Syd.

"How're we supposed to fight something we can't see?" grumbled Syd.

"Well, we can see him before and while he's attacking us, so technically we _can_ see him but-…"

"It was a rhetorical question Bridge," sighed Syd.

"Stick together, don't let him get in between us," Sky ordered. They carried out the orders, and formed a rough circle, with Sky facing the front, Bridge facing behind them and Syd and Z facing the sides. All had their Delta Enforcers ready and were on the lookout for trouble.

* * *

The Delta ATV roared along the street in the industrial district at full speed, with its owner pushing the vehicle's engine as far as it would go.

"You're reaching the area where they disappeared," came Kat's voice over the ATV's communications systems.

"Inform me when I get there Kat."

"Understood."

Within minutes, the ATV roared to a halt outside the warehouse where the Rangers had apparently disappeared.

"Kat, I'm at the warehouse," said Cruger into his morpher.

* * *

At the Command Centre, Kat had brought up the overhead view of Newtech, before zooming in to close in on Doggie's signal. A frown made its way onto her face before replying.

"Wait sir, before you go in, I need to test something," she said.

"Quickly Kat."

"Alright. Move back ten metres," Kat said, constantly watching the screen.

Doggie did so, and his signal did the same on the map.

"Now move forward ten metres again."

Doggie did as he was asked. "What's wrong Kat?"

"Your signal before was much clearer than it is now. Move inside the warehouse, and move back out again."

Kat watched as the signal from Cruger's morpher started to fade, and once inside the warehouse, disappeared. It reappeared again, outside the warehouse.

"Is that it Kat?" came his voice.

"Yes sir. I think you've just confirmed my suspicion. There's some kind of disruption field that encompasses the warehouse. I think the Rangers are in there," Kat said.

"I'm going in Kat."

"Once you do sir, you'll be on your own. I can't contact you, and I think it works in reverse as well."

"Very well. Cruger out." The communications link closed. This was the part Kat hated. The part where she couldn't do anything more to help. Where fate was taken out of her hands and was put into luck's hands.

Kat realised then that she could help more, and contribute to these situations more if her morpher was still active. She sighed as she began uploading the files and data necessary for a full overhaul of her morpher into her lab's computer.

* * *

Deeper inside the warehouse, Sky was hauled up after another ambush by Ghost. It was becoming extremely frustrating now.

"You OK?" asked Z with concern creeping into her voice.

"I'm alright. Think my ego took a bruise though," said Sky. The latest ambush had knocked Sky around and ended up with his rear end stuck in a cardboard box which amazingly hadn't fallen apart.

"We need something to even the odds," said Syd.

"Our scanners aren't working, so how do we find him?" asked Bridge. "Unless one of us volunteers to be bait, 'cos he always reappears when he's attacking us…"

Sky looked around, and saw nothing that would help them. He glanced at each of his team mates for ideas.

"Calm down Sky," said Bridge, whilst looking over a suspicious area.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Psychic senses come in handy for telling moods," said Bridge.

Sky sighed. Bridge's psychic senses were a blessing, and a curse. He could tell their moods, and could delve into their minds if he wished. Bridge could tell what had happened in the last couple of minutes, and sometimes could find their foes without the help of technology…

As Sky went along that train of thought, he hit an idea.

"I know how we can find him!" announced Sky. Bridge, Syd and Z turned to look at him.

"How?" questioned Syd.

"Bridge! You can read auras. You should be able to pick up this guy's aura even if he's invisible right?" asked Sky.

"Probably, though I do have to un-morph to scan the place," Bridge said with a frown.

"And that would make you an easier target," said Z. "It's gonna be dangerous."

"Syd, Z and I will form a triangle around you. You tell us where he is, we'll blast him," announced Sky. "We all agree?" Everyone nodded.

"Alright, get into position," ordered Sky. Syd, Z and himself formed a triangle, and Bridge ducked into their formation.

"Power down," Bridge said, before his suit and helmet disappeared. He crouched down and waved his hand around, frowning as he read the auras around.

His eyes widened as he realised where Ghost was. "Above us!" Bridge shouted.

"Scatter!" ordered Sky as they quickly broke apart, just in time as Ghost's black-clad figure appeared and hit the ground where Bridge would have been.

Unfortunately, Ghost was now surrounded by three Delta Enforcers, and the users had no intention of holding back. Ghost was hit by six powerful blasts and sent flying.

The ninja-wannabe as Bridge had conned him before landed on his feet, and was met with even more lasers from the three S.W.A.T. outfitted Rangers, who stood in a line and continued to fire while Bridge ducked down behind them.

The cloaked attacker cursed as he realised that his advantage over the Rangers were rapidly diminishing, and his time was running short. He ducked as Sky ran in for a kick, and retaliated with a blow from his elbow that caused Sky to double over, before brining his elbow down on Sky's neck which sent Sky into the ground.

What he didn't know was that as he fought, the Shadow Ranger had ran into the warehouse, Shadow Saber prepared, and that his time had been cut down.

* * *

When Cruger entered the warehouse, he had little to no idea about how to find the Rangers in such a place. However, when his ears picked up the sounds of a battle, he realised that it was going to be easier than he had expected.

Following the sounds of the battle, he quickly came across the place. Looking around, he saw that the Red, Yellow and Pink Rangers were fighting a black clad figure, who despite being outnumbered, was doing a fine job of fighting off three S.W.A.T. clad Rangers. At the distance the Rangers were fighting, the Delta Enforcers were of little use, unless it was used as an improvised club.

The next thing he saw was that Bridge was ducking behind a box, unmorphed, calling out directions to the Rangers. Deciding against revealing his position, Cruger waited.

Bridge was working his senses overtime to find Ghost. Waving his hand over and over, auras were constantly being read, evaluated and called out to Sky, Z and Syd, who were kicking and punching at the soldier, who was blocking and counter-attacking with extreme precision and speed. But Bridge knew that eventually, the soldier would be worn down, and then contained with relative ease.

He would just have to hold back his headache that was coming on until then.

* * *

Ghost was in a world of trouble. He ducked a kick aimed at his head from the Yellow Ranger, and as he spun around to meet her counter-attack, another kick hit him from behind from the Pink Ranger. His stealth advantage was gone, unless he got rid of the Blue Ranger who was un-morphed…

Meeting an assault from the Red Ranger head on, he devised a plan. He purposely allowed one of the kicks to hit him, and as he flew back, he prepared himself and the second he hit the wall of the container, he pushed off and tackled the unprepared Yellow Ranger.

Taking advantage of the surprise, he yanked the Yellow Ranger's Enforcer away and used it to blast the Pink and Red Rangers who rushed him. Both went down in a shower of sparks, and he tossed the blaster away, before leaping at the Blue Ranger.

His attack would have gone off without a hitch if the Shadow Ranger didn't step out from behind a corner, Shadow Saber raised.

"Shadow Saber, full power!"

* * *

Bridge was shocked when Cruger stepped out from behind a corner, and was even more shocked when the Containment Card that flew out of the explosion that had contained Ghost hit him on the forehead.

"Ouch!" he cried as he leapt up, rubbing his forehead. That definitely _didn't_ help his headache…

"Commander!" Sky said with surprise when he, Z and Syd ran up. "What're doing here?"

"Helping out," said Cruger as he accepted the Card from Bridge who had picked it up, still rubbing his head.

"Something funny happened here Commander," said Sky. "Our S.W.A.T. scanners aren't working at all," he reported.

"I know," answered Cruger. "Kat figured out that there was a disruption field cast over this place. Did he," Cruger gestured with the Card holding Ghost, "do anything when you got here?"

"Well, he kinda mocked us, specifically Sky, and then he did something, I think he threw a small coin on the ground, wait, maybe a large coin…" Bridge began to ramble.

"That's enough Bridge. Where did he throw the coin thing?" Cruger asked.

"He threw right when we went in," said Z. "Well, after we went in, but near one of the entrances."

"OK, search every entrance and find that coin thing. It may have been the generator for the disruption field," Cruger ordered.

"Yes sir!" With a salute, the four Rangers left and began to scour the area for the small device.

* * *

In Kat's lab at the Delta Command Base, five pairs of eyes watched Kat as she ran through tests and probes of the device they had brought in.

"So, what is it?" asked Bridge.

"It appears to be a disruption field generator," answered Kat as she constantly moved from the machine scanning the generator back to her computer.

"And it stuffed up our scanners?" Z asked.

"Basically, yes. I won't bore you with the mechanics about it. All it did was that it blocked all signals from going in or out, and stopped most of our scanners, such as your S.W.A.T. scanners, as well as the ones mounted on our satellites."

"Rangers, be on alert. This new technology is disturbing, and you will have to do your best. Continue training, dismissed," ordered Cruger.

With a salute, the four Rangers left the Command Centre, and disappeared down the hall.

Cruger looked at Kat. "How long until you finish the analysis?" he asked.

Kat shook her head negatively. "It'll be a while," she said. "There's a great deal of stuff in here that would take a few weeks, maybe months just to get behind, let alone form a solution."

"We may not have a few more weeks," Cruger reminded her.

"I know, I know. But," Kat said, uncertainty creeping into her voice, "someone was developing this technology at the Science Academy. I know someone who worked him. Perhaps he may know more about this than I do."

"Just find out how to counter this new technology. And how is your morpher coming along?" Cruger asked.

Kat walked over to a sealed off section of the lab. Cruger followed her, and peered through the thick glass panes. Kat's white and orange morpher lay there, partially dismantled with robotic arms moving over it.

"The power source is sixty percent changed," said Kat, also looking at the morpher. "It'll be done shortly. I'm just not sure when to use it."

"Keep at it," Cruger ordered, turning to leave, when one of Kat's comments made its way into his mind.

"They seem to be developing everything at the Science Academy these days," Cruger said with a chuckle. "What'll be next?"

"I don't know sir," said Kat as she rose from her seat. "But if the person who is behind this is who I really believe it is, then he has ideas that you and I would hope will never see the light of day," Kat finished grimly.

* * *

On the _Chimera_, there were whole sections of the ship dedicated to the creation of weapons, and occasionally, studying new items. One such item, another gift from the human named Therntia lay on the desk, as Choustos, the person who spent the most time in there, was bent over it, studying it intently. Despite his nervousness around the bridge and his leader, he was more confident in the lab.

As Choustos pried open the cover to the package, he worked happily for once, paying little attention to some of the finer details. Which was why he missed the small and faint beeping as the anti-personnel grenade lodged in the package counted down to its detonation and the death of anyone in its blast radius.

The grenade, originally conceived for use against humans by humans, still had a devastating effect on anything not protected by armour. Which was why Choustos never stood a chance as the grenade exploded, sending shrapnel flying all across the room.

* * *

On the bridge/throne room of the Chimera, Malignticous was disturbed from his thoughts by an alarm going off. "What is it now?" he hissed angrily.

Reaching forward, he tapped a button on the console. "Tanzior, go check what is happening!" he hissed.

There was silence for minutes, until Tanzior, another one of his soldiers reported in. "Emperor, there seems to be an accident in Choustos' laboratory. Choustos is…dead Emperor."

He didn't even blink. Was it a coincidence that Choustos happened to have a fatal accident while examining the newcomer's gift? Malignticous didn't think so, but he nonetheless appreciated cunning and treachery, except treachery against himself of course.

"Bring our new guest up to the throne room," he ordered.

It took some time to get from the holding cells to the throne room. The holding cells were near the bottom and rear of the ship, whilst the throne room/bridge was near the highest point of the ship and further near the front.

The doors opened, and in walked the human, flanked by two Blueheads, their blasters at the ready.

"I will get to the point. Did you have a hand in this?" Malignticous asked, waving a hand at the monitor that displayed the chaos in the lab. Everything within five metres of the explosive was shattered, and Choustos' body lay against the wall, blackened and bleeding.

"Would it help if I lied?" the human asked.

Malignticous chuckled, a low, raspy, evil sound. "I do admire your style. Did you do it on purpose? Rather, was this all planned?"

"It was planned, Emperor," replied the human.

"So, what do you wish from me?" asked Malignticous.

"I wish to join your ranks, as your new weapons expert," the human said with a sly grin.

"A wise choice. But what do you wish in return?"

Malignticous was no fool. Part of the reason Grumm had failed was because he had trusted the two timing Broodwing far too much, and ended up paying for his services. Malignticous wouldn't fall for that. He would simply vaporise the human if he demanded too much.

"All I ask for Emperor, is that you leave a certain member of S.P.D. alive and well, for my, _amusement_."

"And why would I do that?" Malignticous asked. Knowing what motivated a person was a great way to see how loyal they would be.

"Because, I would toil for you just for the person to be captured. I want my revenge. And revenge is so much sweeter when their spirits are broken," said Therntia, with an evil glimmer in his eyes.

Malignticous laughed. The hollow sound resonated through the ship for a long time, before he stopped and looked down at the human.

"Welcome to the Troobian Empire, friend!" he said before laughing out loud again. The sound continued on for a long time to come, before he was joined by Therntia.

* * *

A.N: Phew, that was really, really, really long for me. I know, short chapter became a massive long one. I hope you enjoyed this one, and leave a comment/review please! And constructive criticism or advice is also taken and appreciated. Also, do you readers like longer chapters, or shorter ones? Please inform in your review, thanks! See ya all next time! 


	6. Rising from the Ashes

Power Rangers SPD: Aftershock

A.N: Nothing here, move along people, move along…on a side note, this chapter would have been up last night (according to Australian Eastern Standard Time) if it weren't for site problems for me...

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything related to them, and so on and so forth.

* * *

Syd was walking down the endless corridors of the Delta Command Base without a purpose. Her chest still hurt; after all, it wasn't every day that you were hit across it so many times, then shot at with your team mate's own weapon.

After so many days of hard fighting, Syd was looking toward at least a day off. She knew where she was going to spend it. All day long in a spa, the thought was enough to cheer her up, even momentarily.

Right now, Syd was headed toward the cafeteria, for her lunch break. The others were already there; Syd had spent more time recovering from the latest attack than the others.

Entering the large hall, she got her daily meal, and made a beeline fore where the rest of her team mates were sitting. Sky was already finished, Z still eating and Bridge was finishing up the last of his toast pile.

"Hi Syd," greeted Bridge. He always was the friendliest, and rarely got onto the bad side of anyone in the Squad.

"Pinky," greeted Z half-heartedly. She still hadn't forgiven Syd since their last argument, and truth be told, neither had Syd.

"Syd." Sky simply nodded as a way of confirmation, his nosed buried in the Handbook.

"Why are you still reading that? You gave up near Grumm's defeat," questioned Syd as she set down her meal next to Bridge. Z was seated next to Sky, as usual.

"Syd, I'm looking for the part where it says how we deal with offenders directly associated with an enemy, such as the Troobians," answered Sky.

"We already know how to do that. Defeat, judge and contain," retorted Syd, starting to munch through her meal.

"There may be some changes to that," said Sky.

"If it's the same Handbook, why would there be any changes?" asked Bridge.

"This is the newer edition," said Sky.

"Published by Mr. Sky Tate himself," added Z jokingly.

"Whatever Z," said Sky.

"Come on, admit it: you probably wrote half the Handbook you're reading, didn't you?" teased Z.

"I may have had a small part in its production," Sky hesitatingly admitted.

Syd could only laugh. More like laugh as well as she could given that her mouth was filled with food. All Sky could muster was a glare, before picking up his Handbook and walking out of the Cafeteria.

"Where are you going?" asked Z, turning in her chair to look at Sky as he left.

"To read in peace and quiet!"

"Bye!" called out Syd.

There was no response from the Red Ranger as he walked out of the Cafeteria, past cadets eating and Officers socialising with each other.

* * *

It had been less than three days since Therntia's indoctrination in the rather undermanned army of Troobians within the walls and halls of the damaged _Chimera_. He now inhabited the post that the now-deceased Choustos originally had; chief weapons designer, and occasionally scientist. Troobians had little need for scientists aboard vessels of occupation and war.

The laboratory was cleaned up, the debris and remains from the explosion removed. Choustos' body still remained where it was; in the corner of the lab.

Malignticous had left it there as a 'reminder' for Therntia; he had gotten the position by deposing of the previous holder of the position. Someone just as easily could the same to him, and Malignticous most likely wouldn't care.

Therntia, had no intention of letting that happen. He had joined for two reasons in fact. Of course he had joined for revenge. It was the logical choice, to go for the opposite of what _she_ had done. Troobians were the polar opposite of S.P.D., weren't they?

The other reason was why he was adamant about refusing to allow the same he did to Choustos was that he, like so many other beings across the galaxy, wanted to live. Unlike others, he had no qualm about siding with the Troobians if he was to live.

Already, he had developed something that he hoped would assure Malignticous of his worth.

The doorway to his lab slid open, and in walked the intimidating figure of Malignticous. He glanced around, and noted Choustos' body with a huff. He continued to glance around, and the cloth-covered thing standing in the middle of the large lab. Therntia stood up, still clothed like he was when he first entered the throne room and pledged his loyalty to him.

"Emperor, I am glad that you could make it," Thernita said grandly, not a note of nervousness tinging his lighter voice.

"Before you start what you brought me here for, let's clear up something," Malignticous said, approaching Therntia, who for his worth, didn't budge.

"We need to be very clear about this," Malignticous started. "I am the Troobian Emperor. That means that _everyone_, including you, are _my_ subordinates, so I make the calls, not you," he hissed.

"Of course, Emperor," smoothly said Therntia.

"Good. I will let this slide, since there must be something here to help us in this war," granted Malignticous.

"I thank you for your leniency, Emperor," said Therntia before walking towards the cloth-covered figure. "I have studied the Krybot designs of both the Blueheads that you possess, as well as the exceptionally well designed Orangeheads that Grumm had in his disposal," began Therntia.

"However, there were certain things about the designs which I took into consideration when creating this newer model," said Therntia.

"Go on," said Malignticous, eager to hear about anything that would help with bringing S.P.D. to its knees.

"So, with all that in mind, I have created an entirely new model of Krybot, far superior to that of the Bluehead models, and even the Orangehead, I would think," announced Therntia, yanking off the cloth covering the Krybot with a flourish.

"Behold, Emperor! My newest Krybot design, and the latest addition to your army!"

The Krybot had a similar body shape to that of the Orangehead model. The head, however, was completely different, unique. The head had the shape of two crescent curves crossed together. The curves were the widest at the front, before tapering off to a razor thin edge at the end. The front view looked like a pair of exceptionally stretched out ovals that also tapered off at the end. A red line ran from the upper left crescent, down to where it intersected the other, and ran back up to the top of the upper right crescent.

Malignticous admired the weapons; a pair of blades built into the wrists of the Krybot, as well as the blasters built above them. It looked menacing enough, but Malingticous knew that looks would mean nothing if it wasn't any good at its job.

"I like to call it the Krybot Kommando," said Therntia. "It has the latest processors built in, and a stronger plate of armour."

"It certainly is impressive," said Malignticous as he walked around the deactivated robot. "Activate it," he ordered.

Therntia moved to comply, and pressed a switch on a small remote.

There was the sound of a faint whirring, and the Krybot's red line that made up its visual processors slowly began to light up and before long, was glowing a deep blood red. It looked around, before looking at Malignticous.

"I am here to serve you, Emperor," it said in a deep, menacing voice.

Malignticous laughed. "Excellent! Your work is impressive! How long until it is fully operational?" he asked.

"It is operational now, and I am finishing the last parts of his main weapon," said Therntia.

"Excellent! How long until we can start to produce more of these?"

"Unfortunately, given the materials, producing one can easily equal almost twenty normal Krybots," said Therntia.

"No matter. One shall suffice for our purposes now. I need you to prepare it. And where should I strike first with this robot?"

"Actually Emperor, I think it would be best if we tested out its abilities against the Rangers first," said Therntia.

"Then do so," ordered Malignticous.

* * *

In the halls of the Delta Command Base, Sky walked along a corridor. It was mostly empty, and Sky had hoped to use it as a shortcut to the Rec Room.

Few cadets went this way, so Sky was surprised when he ran into Kat, who was heading down the opposite direction.

"Oof," he grunted as he hit the floor. He accepted the hand Kat had gave him, and was hauled up to his feet. "Thanks Kat. What're you doing down here?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, umm, nothing really. Good day, Sky," Kat quickly said, before walking away towards the direction of the interrogation rooms. Sky furrowed his brows; Kat had come from the direction of the Containment Card Storage Area. His instincts told him to follow Kat, to see what she was doing. But, he headed down the corridor instead, intent on reaching the Rec Room and reading in peace.

The interrogation room was pretty bland. The mandatory table and chairs were pushed up against the wall of the room, but Kat paid it no mind as she walked in, and inserted the card she had taken from the Storage Area into a small device that hung against a wall. A few seconds later, and a figure dressed in a clean lab coat appeared on the floor, lying down in front of her.

The person laid there for several seconds before he picked himself up, and stood up, brushing dust off his clean white lab coat.

"Hmmm, this looks a bit different," Mooney said before turning around and seeing Kat standing before him, arms folded across her chest.

"Ahh! Kat!" he shouted before involuntarily taking three steps back away from her.

Kat watched him with an annoyed expression on her face. "Mooney," Kat greeted coldly.

"So, you've reconsidered your decision about taking me in?" Mooney asked with hope, before Kat's answer dashed his hopes.

"No."

"Then why am I here?" he asked.

"Because, as strange as it sounds, I need your help," said Kat.

"But if it's a scientific thing, you wouldn't need my help. You said it yourself; you were at the top of the class, and I was at the bottom," Mooney said.

"That was before I was forced to help you," retorted Kat.

"Oh yes, that was pleasant, wasn't it?" he asked.

"Not for me. Enough about that," said Kat.

Before she could ask another question, Mooney butted in. "How 'bout a quick meal, Kat? I'm hungry," he stated.

Kat sighed. "You can't be feeling hungry. I know because the card essentially cryogenically freezes your internal organs, preventing age, disease and all those things from affecting you, whilst leaving most of your motor skills and ability to talk functioning," said Kat.

"Please? For an old friend Kat?"

"…Only because I feel sorry for you," grumbled Kat before walking out, closing and locking the door behind her.

Mooney stared after her as she left.

* * *

Five minutes and a quick meal later, Kat stood over Mooney again.

"You done?"

"Yes, thanks for that," Mooney said gratefully. Kat sighed.

"Stop trying to get onto my good side," she said. "Now, I need to ask you something. Do you remember the days at the Science Academy?"

Mooney smiled. "Ah yes, those were the days. Just me and you at first, and then came Jake, and then Therntia, the good man," he said.

"And this is about Therntia."

"What about him?" asked Mooney nervously, his demeanour quickly changing.

"You were closer to him. He worked on a disruption field during those last days, right?" asked Kat.

"I'm not really sure…" Mooney began, before being cut off.

"Sure you don't," said Kat, starting to walk closer to her old friend and recent enemy. Mooney started to back away. He always had been the weaker figure in the group, and often hid behind others.

"I don't know that much about Therntia," said Mooney.

"I'm not interested in knowing about him. I already know as much about him as you do. I'm more interested in what he did during those days," said Kat.

"Sorry, can't help you there!" Mooney said, on the edge of breaking down.

Kat smiled. "Just try to lie to me, Mooney. You know you want to-…"

At that point, Sky ran into the room. He had ran in just to see Mooney cowering in a corner of the room, with Kat standing over him, her hands on her hips. All he had heard was the last part of Kat's sentence, and looked shocked.

"Kat!" he cried out. "What are you doing?"

Kat sighed. "Sky, I'm in the middle of something here. What do you need?"

"Oh, I was curious to see what you were doing near the Containment Card Storage Area," said Sky. "And Cruger wants to see us as well," he added.

"I'm trying to ask Mooney here something that has to do with the disruption field generator. Tell the Commander I'll be there shortly. Now, if you're done, can you kindly leave us alone?"

"Oh, sure. Well, sorry for butting in," he said before walking out sheepishly.

Kat turned back to Mooney, who had gotten up. "Mooney, one last time. Did Therntia work on a disruption field generator?"

Mooney caved in. "Yes, I think he did," he sighed.

"Do you know how to counteract its effects?" asked Kat.

Mooney frowned. "Unfortunately, I don't," he said before he noticed Kat's glare. He held up his gloved hands. "Honest!"

"Mooney, I need to know. How did he create that technology?" Kat demanded.

"Kat, I didn't work with him on the project, I swear!" Mooney cried.

"Then who did?" asked Kat.

"I think Jake did a lot of work on that project with him," replied Mooney.

"Jake?" asked Kat, confused. "Jake and Therntia didn't get along too well as well during those days," stated Kat.

"That's because he sided with you. Well, he did a lot of concepts and ideas with Therntia on the disruption field as a project, before Jake also gave up on it. Therntia worked on it alone for the rest of the time, and that's probably when you discovered it," said Mooney.

Kat eyed him critically. "You sure?"

"On my honour," Mooney said.

"And that's not worth a lot. We proved that last time we met," Kat said. "Alright, I'll believe you for now," Kat said before going to the device that would place Mooney back into the Containment Card.

"Wait, wait, wait a second Kat. What do I get out of this?" argued Mooney.

"Nothing. You just had to answer my questions," said Kat.

"But, I helped you!" Mooney cried.

Kat sighed. "The best you'll get is a shortened sentence. I'll see what I can do," she said before pressing the switch. Mooney disappeared back inside the Card, and looked around sadly.

"Back home again," he said, before looking at Kat. "Make sure you tell Jake I said 'hi'."

Before Kat could say anything, the alarms started blaring again. Cursing the Containment Card Storage for being located so far away, Kat sprinted for the Storage area, knowing fully well that Doggie hated people coming late.

* * *

In the Command Centre, Sky, Bridge, Z and Syd stood at attention while Cruger went through the screens. Kat came rushing soon after.

"Where were you, Dr. Manx?" barked Cruger as he straightened up.

"I was busy doing something else," Kat replied as she went through the screens much quicker, and pulling up relevant data. "Alright, I got it. Krybot attack at the plaza. Here it is," Kat said while the projector on the main console in the room lit up, showing a strange new Krybot attacking indiscriminately.

Normal civilians were running as the new Krybot tossed plastic tables and chairs around, firing blasts from a large weapon into buildings, sign posts and other things.

"Rangers! Stop this attack!" ordered Cruger.

"Why do I have the feeling that this isn't an attack aimed to cripple us or to gain something?" asked Bridge as they pulled out their morphers.

"Maybe because the Krybot is attacking a plaza?" suggested Z.

"I hope my favourite restaurant there is intact," added Syd before morphing.

* * *

At the Plaza, the scene was hardly what it was before. Parts of the ground were blackened, and glass littered the ground. The Krybot Kommando was still there, instructed to battle the Rangers at that location. It wasn't disappointed.

"S.P.D. halt!" Sky shouted as the four Rangers ran into the Plaza.

"It's about time," growled the Krybot.

"Yeah, time for you to join your other Krybot friends in the junk pile!" snapped Z.

The Krybot growled, and leapt into action. The Rangers did the same, with all of them drawing out their Strikers or Delta Blasters.

Bridge, Syd and Z rushed at the Krybot with their Deltamax Strikers in its sword form. The first slash from Bridge missed when it punched Bridge in the chest before the sword connected with it. It spun around, and Z's attack missed as well, kicked Z in the back. Syd rushed up and attempted to bring her Striker down on the Krybot. It reached up and grabbed Syd's arm before it could reach it, and held it there.

"Syd!" shouted Sky, before he blasted the Krybot with his Delta Blasters.

The Krybot threw Syd into a stack of chairs, and leapt up to avoid Sky's shots.

"Take this!" it shouted, before raining lasers from its own mounted blasters at Sky. The blue blasts all struck Sky and the area around him.

"Aghh!" screamed Sky as he was sent flying as the Krybot landed.

"You're no match for me," it sneered as the four Rangers stumbled together.

"Alright guys, let's blast him!" shouted Sky. All of them raised their weapons, and fired at the Krybot. The blasts created a large cloud of smoke, and the Krybot ran through without a scratch on its pristine armour.

Bridge and Syd ran forward to meet its advance, their Strikers ready and raised.

"Hee-ya!" shouted Bridge as he leapt up. The Krybot also jumped, and slashed Bridge with its forearm mounted blades, which sent the Blue Ranger tumbling down.

It continued forward, and ducked under Syd's Striker before elbowing her away. Z came up, and tried to take a slash before the Krybot slide tackled her, sending her collapsing to the ground. Sky stood his ground, and fired at the robot. When it came up, Sky went for a roundhouse kick, but was foiled when it ducked under the kick and brought both its arms down in a vicious cut.

"Come on guys! Let's beat this creep!" shouted Syd as all four Rangers ran into battle again.

"Still haven't had enough?" yelled the Krybot Kommando, as it too raised its blades high into the air, and charged into the Rangers.

It somersaulted over Syd, and ducked Bridge's kick, before clashing with Sky, who was using the Delta Blasters to block the Krybot's blades.

It pushed up against Sky, who was straining with effort to keep the blades away from his head. "What's the matter Red Ranger?" it taunted.

"This is your matter!" shouted Syd before blasting on the back. It stumbled forward, just as Bridge grabbed its arms and held them behind its back, careful to point its hands away from him.

"Now Z!" Bridge shouted.

"Thanks Bridge!" said Z as she slid in, and brought her Striker across its chest as Bridge let go of its arms and stepped to the side, bringing his leg out behind it.

The Krybot stumbled back from the force of the blow Z had delivered, and hit Bridge's leg, tumbling back into a miraculously unbroken glass window of a store, which then shattered.

Sky and Syd then took the opportunity to blast the area where the Krybot had fallen.

"Good job Bridge, Z," said Sky as they met up.

"Is it down yet?" asked Bridge.

"I don't think much can survive that," said Z, before the rubble shifted and the Krybot's strange, imposing head rose out, followed by its body. "Never mind."

"You can't be rid of me that easily," cackled the powerful robot. Its arm blades began to glow bright blue with energy as it stood up. "You haven't seen anything yet," it said, as the blades began to glow even brighter.

"Uh oh," muttered Bridge.

"Now, time to end this!" it shouted before letting lose with a blue crescent-shaped wave of energy from one of its blades. The wave barely missed the Rangers, but the force from the explosion was enough to send them flying.

The second wave didn't miss. The massive crescent hit all four Rangers, sending sparks flying off their suits wildly. The Rangers collapsed from the force of such an attack, and de-morph the instant they hit the ground.

Bridge rolled over and groaned. "What was that?" he managed to cough out.

"I dunno Bridge," coughed Sky as he tried to stand up, but ended up doubling over, clutching his stomach, before falling back down.

"Ugh, my head hurts," moaned Z.

"You're not the only one," agreed Syd.

They were interrupted by the loud laughing of the victorious Krybot.

"So much for the Rangers who defeated Grumm," it cackled.

* * *

In the Command Centre, Cruger and Kat watched the screen with concern.

"What is that Kat?" asked Cruger.

"A new Krybot model," said Kat as she ran scans on the strange Krybot.

"Anything else?"

"No," said Kat as she worked. "Doggie, you better get out there quick," Kat said. "The Rangers are down, and it looks like that Krybot is moving in for the kill."

"I'm already on it Kat. S.P.D. Emergency!" shouted Cruger.

* * *

The Krybot Kommando continued to walk closer to the fallen Rangers, chuckling all the while.

"Why do they always wait until the last minute to deal the finishing blow?" asked Bridge, still on the ground.

"Bridge, can you stop your questions?" asked Syd. "If I'm going to die, then I want to die in peace."

"No-one's going to die on my watch!" shouted a voice.

"Commander?" the Rangers asked in confusion.

Sure enough, the blue and gray Delta ATV roared onto the scene, the Shadow Ranger at its controls. The ATV fired the lasers, and the explosions were enough to send the Krybot Kommando flying up.

It managed to right itself in midair, and aimed its own lasers at the ATV.

"Try some of these!" it sneered before firing. The ATV swerved and turned to avoid the blasts, which mainly missed it. The ATV retorted with its own lasers, which the Krybot avoided by twirling around.

The S.W.A.T. Truck rolled onto the scene, and stopped next to the Rangers. The ramp automatically descended, and the Rangers could only stare at it.

"Get in Rangers!" ordered Kat through their morphers.

"Go!" shouted Cruger as they looked back to see him still battling the Krybot with the ATV.

The Rangers ran up the ramp, and sealed it. Sky settled down in the driver's seat while the others sat down in the passenger compartment.

"Hang on!" shouted Sky as he pushed the S.W.A.T. Truck to its maximum speed. He saw Cruger still fighting the Krybot on foot now; the Krybot Kommando had the upper hand. He wasn't going to go without lending some sort of assistance to Cruger though.

"Z!" he shouted.

"Yeah?" she replied from her seat.

"Can you man the cannon? Give the Commander some cover!" he said.

"Sure thing boss," Z answered as she unstrapped herself from the seat and moved to the console for the cannons.

Z saw Cruger still locking blades with the Krybot. Taking careful aim, she fired the lasers mounted on the Truck. The lasers flew by Cruger, and slammed into the Kommando.

"Come on Commander! We've got you covered!" shouted Sky into the communications link. Cruger wasted no time and jumped onto the Delta ATV, gunning the engine and reversing.

The Krybot growled in anger as it saw its quarry escape and tried to go after it. It was met by a combination of lasers from the S.W.A.T. vehicle and the ATV that began to damage it. Parts of the armour broke off from under the relentless barrage before it finally chose to give up.

It stared after the retreating vehicles.

"Another time Rangers!" it shouted at the rapidly disappearing transports.

* * *

"Hold still Bridge!" said an exasperated Kat.

Bridge was in a rather uncomfortable situation. Sitting on one of the various beds in one part of the Infirmary, with sheets drawn up all around to keep other eyes away, he had lifted up his shirt to let Kat finish bandaging him up.

Dr. Felix had already examined him, and had left Kat to finish up. Despite being the older of the two, there were some places where one's age doesn't mean anything. Particularly the Infirmary.

"You done yet Kat?" asked Bridge to Kat who was standing behind him. "My arms are getting sore," he noted.

"Well, you could have taken your shirt off," reprimanded Kat. "I told you, I've seen all that before."

Bridge just sighed as he tried to keep his arms up. Dr. Felix had said that there were no major injuries, except for the rather large cut on Bridge's ribs. The suit had kept most of them intact, leaving behind bruises when the wave had hit them. Still, all of them had suffered several cuts and Dr. Felix had wanted it bandaged to avoid infections.

"Done. Try to not do twist so much, or you'll be in here again," said Kat as Bridge finally lowered his arms, and collapsed on the bed.

"Can I relax yet?" Bridge asked.

Kat shook her apologetically. "Sorry Bridge, Command Centre. Cruger wants a debriefing."

"What debriefing? All we did was get our butts handed to us on a silver platter," said Bridge, still not moving from the bed.

"It's more about how you are going to fight it, rather than what you did wrong that time," said Kat. "Now, up Bridge. Sky's already there, and Syd and Z are making their way there. You can rest later."

"Fine," he sighed, swinging his legs over.

* * *

In the Command Centre, the B-Squad stood around, doing almost nothing while Cruger was talking to Kat in a low tone. Rather, Sky was standing at attention; Z was listening to music through an age-old Mp3 player while Bridge and Syd dove in a rather redundant game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Considering Bridge's passive psychic abilities, it wasn't surprising when, after losing for who knows how many times, Syd finally burst.

"That's it! Bridge! I absolutely _refuse_ to play anything like this with you again for a very long time!" she said. "So unless you want to stand here like Sky and stare at computer screens, the think of something else we can play!"

Bridge didn't say anything for awhile, until he perked up. Syd looked at him

"Well?" she asked.

"What about…Noughts and Crosses?" Bridge asked slowly and deliberately.

Syd was about to say something about the similarities of the two games and Bridge's powers when Cruger cleared his throat.

"Ahem."

Instantly the four stopped their 'activities'. The usage of the word there would really push the boundaries of the definition. They stood at attention again, and faced Cruger and Kat.

It was easy to see that Kat wasn't pleased. She had a scowl on her face, and seemed to be avoiding Cruger's gaze. While it was harder to read Cruger's expression, Bridge could almost see the same emotion flowing off him.

"B-Squad," began Cruger. "Dr. Manx needs some…assistance with one of her projects. I need one of you to help her. Volunteers?" he asked.

All of them put their hands up. Cruger assessed them all. "While Dr. Manx and I appreciate the offer Sky, you need to lead the team. Syd, you have missed out on too much training, and you cannot afford to miss anymore. Bridge, no offence, but I believe we'll need a stronger fighter."

"None taken…I think," said Bridge.

"So, Z, you'll accompany Dr. Manx. She'll be leaving shortly."

"Leaving? Where?" asked Z, looking confused.

"Don't worry Z. I'll give you the details soon," assured Kat, turning back to the main console.

"The rest of you, double your training efforts. This new Krybot is not something to take on lightly; I'm sure you all would know. Dismissed," said Cruger.

Sky, Bridge and Syd left the Command Centre. Z stayed behind, and waited for instructions.

"Delgado, your job is to keep Dr. Manx safe. Understood?" asked Cruger.

"Yes sir!" replied Z.

Kat turned away from the console, and stepped off the platform. "Come on Z, we better get going," Kat said. She left with Z following on her heels.

"Uh, Kat? Where are we going?" Z asked as she kept pace with the taller scientist.

"Not far. Just to an old friend's place," answered Kat, turning into her lab to grab the disruption field generator.

"Do I need anything?"

"No. I would have preferred to do this on my own, but you know Doggie," sighed Kat.

Leaving the lab, they entered the parking garage and jumped into the Delta Cruiser, Kat taking the driver's seat and Z settling down next to her.

"Does your friend live somewhere around here?" asked Z.

"He lives in the suburbs," answered Kat.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the Delta Cruiser was parked outside an average household. Z examined the house with a keen and practised eye. It was clean and orderly, with a well-kept front lawn. The house was made from typical whitish blue metal, and was fairly typical of houses.

The lawn itself was simple, and had a few trees and plants for decoration. Not a single thing was out of place. Z decided that whoever lived here was either freakishly neat or had someone to do it for them.

"Did you say it was a he?" questioned Z as they moved up the path.

"Yes I did."

"Does he live with anyone?" asked Z.

Kat smirked. "You're wondering about the state of the house, aren't you?" she asked.

Z shrugged.

"No, he doesn't live with anyone. Last time I checked with him, which was a good twenty something years ago, he lived by himself."

"And how does he keep the whole place so neat?" asked Z.

"He had always prided himself in being able to do work, enjoy life _and_ clean at the same time," Kat answered.

"Sounds like my kinda guy," joked Z. Kat laughed.

Reaching the door, Kat pressed the chime before stepping back. Seconds later, she heard footsteps in the corridor. The door opened to reveal a friendly looking human male.

Blond hair, not with any flashy or particular style, and blue eyes made him seem pretty ordinary. He looked at Kat, and blinked in surprise.

"Katherine?" he asked, before snapping out of his trance. "Katherine!" he exclaimed. "Time certainly hasn't left its mark on you. You haven't changed a bit since I last saw you!"

"Hi Jake," Kat answered, before looking at Z. "This is Elizabeth Delgado. Z, this is Jake Litner, he used to go to the Science Academy with me," she introduced.

Jake shook her hand. "So you must be Katherine's associate?" he asked.

Z shook her head with a smile. "More like a…subordinate, in a way."

He chuckled. "Not surprising really. Katherine always had been one for authority. Well, what brings you two here?" asked Jake.

"S.P.D. business, unfortunately," said Kat.

"Well, you better come in then," said Jake, ushering them through a door.

Inside, he escorted them to the living room.

"Would you two like anything? Tea, coffee?" he asked as he went to the kitchen. "Perhaps your usual, Katherine, if you haven't changed as much as your appearance suggests?"

"Uh, Mr. Litner?" asked Z uncertainly.

"Just call me Jake," he called from the kitchen.

Emboldened, Z pushed on. "May I have a soda?" she asked.

"Sure." Jake came out with Z's soda and a glass that presumably held Kat's drink.

"So Katherine," started Jake as he handed Kat and Z their drinks. "What's this S.P.D. business about? Recruiting?" he asked, sitting down.

"Hardly," answered Kat, also sitting down on the seat opposite. "It more has to do with something back during those Science Academy days."

"Then I guess I have to answer as best as I can," said Jake, leaning forward.

Kat grinned. "That, or you can spend your time talking to my superior in an interrogation room."

While Jake and Kat talked, Z moved around the room, taking in the features. It was pretty bare, save for the occasional ornament and well-cared for pot plant here and there. Of more interest to Z was a collection of photos, printed on paper. Z moved closer to the collection, and noted several albums behind the initial group of photos.

The first photo Z looked at showed a much younger Jake, standing in front of the Science Academy. Many of the photos held people she didn't recognise, until she came to the last one.

It showed four people, all smiling. The one Z instantly recognised was Kat. Kat was apparently laughing, and had draped her arms across the shoulders of two people. One was a human, with dark hair and wearing a trench coat. The other was alien, and Z remembered seeing him in a Containment Card from the first and only time Kat had morphed. Right on the very edge of the photo was Jake, apparently the one taking it. He had just managed to get his head in, and miraculously didn't cover the alien's head.

Z stared at the photo for a very long time before placing it back.

"Z?" asked Kat as she walked over. "Something bothering you?"

"Where's Jake?" Z asked.

"He's gone to get some records. It might help track down someone. Now, what's on your mind?"

Z pointed to the photo that she had just recently put back. Kat looked at it, and shook her head.

"That was taken about half-way through the final year at the Academy," Kat said. "Jake made three copies of it, and gave it to each of us. It was the last time we would be together. Mine's still in my quarters."

"Who's he?" asked Z, pointing to the unfamiliar human.

"That's Therntia. He's the reason we're here," said Kat.

"Why's that?"

"Because he was working on the disruption technology that disabled your scanners," answered Kat.

"Here we go," announced Jake as he walked back into the room, carrying some sheets of paper.

"Paper?" smirked Kat. "You really are a stickler for tradition, aren't you?"

"Paper records can be more permanent than others," replied Jake.

Kat skimmed through the records. "So he went off somewhere?" asked Kat, frowning.

"Yeah. Said he wanted to get away from it all."

"That's strange."

"Why would that be? And why are you so interested anyway?" asked Jake. "And where's Mooney?"

Kat sighed. "There's been a lot happening lately," Kat said.

"Would you mind enlightening me?" asked Jake.

"Well, Mooney, he designed a giant robot, and sent it to attack the city. And unfortunately, we, well, I had to contain him. The rules have to be followed. And you knew how badly the terms he and I was on those final days," said Kat.

"So, he's in what do you call it; containment?" asked Jake.

Kat just nodded. "He asked me to tell you he said 'hi'," said Kat.

"And Thernita? How does he tie into all of this?"

"Therntia worked on a disruption field generator during those last days, right?" stated Kat.

"Yeah…"

"Recently, that technology turned up in the hands of the Troobians. They blocked the signals coming from the Rangers, so we couldn't contact them, as well as disrupting their scanners. They had an invisible enemy, so finding him was apparently next to impossible until the Rangers had a brainstorm. I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say I'm suspicious right now," Kat said. She glanced around and saw Z looking around the house still.

Jake sighed. "I've always hoped that Mooney or Therntia wouldn't go that far. But if what you say is correct, then maybe I hoped or dreamt wrongly. So, what else can I do for you, Kathe-…" he stopped and trailed off at Kat's look, almost daring him to say her full first name. "-Kat?"

"Well, Mooney said that you worked on the disruption field generator with Therntia for awhile. I admittedly don't have a clue where to start with this," Kat said, pulling the generator out of her pocket. "I was hoping you could help find a solution to counter its effects."

Jake took the generator, and examined it. "Well, it's the least I can do for helping him before with this, right?"

Kat smiled. "Thanks Jake. I don't have a lot of time to study this, and keep the Base up and running, so I hope you can find a solution."

"No problem. It will take some time for me as well; with work and other commitments," Jake said, pocketing the generator.

Kat winced noticeably. Z, who was standing near Kat, saw the feline wince.

"What's wrong Kat?" asked Z.

"No, nothing. How's Rachel?" asked Kat, trying to keep her voice neutral.

"She's been…pretty good so far. Well, she hasn't stayed for much longer than two weeks at any one time, so it's a bit hard," said Jake.

"You two were dating once?" asked Z in surprised.

"Long time ago Z," said Kat.

Z, knowing it was most likely a touchy subject, let it drop. Her morpher beeped, and she whipped it out.

"Z here," she said.

"Z, Kat better be done by now. I need to discuss something with her," came Cruger's voice.

"Yes sir. I'll inform her. Z out," Z said before closing her morpher, and turning to Kat and Jake who had been watching her curiously. "Kat, we gotta go," Z informed her.

"Alright. You heard her Jake. Duty calls," said Kat.

"Of course. It was nice seeing you again after so long," said Jake, and then turned to Z. "It was nice meeting you too, Elizabeth."

Z shook his hand again. "Just Z, please."

Jake smiled. "What is it with people and shortened names?" he joked, as he escorted to the front door.

Just outside on the porch, Kat turned, and tried to say something, before managing a quick 'goodbye'.

Jake surprised her by suddenly embracing her. Kat was surprised, but returned the gesture.

"Make sure you stop by again," he whispered.

"I will," said Kat before heading off for the Cruiser where Z had already taken the driver's seat and was waiting.

Kat jumped into the passenger seat and looked at Z.

"You drove here. I want a turn to drive as well," answered Z.

* * *

Back at the Delta Command Base, Z headed off to the training grounds, while Kat proceeded to the Command Centre. Upon entering, she walked over to Cruger who was at his desk.

"What is it?" she asked, her irritation at him before mostly gone.

"We received a distress signal originating from a U.S. military convoy. They reported being attacked by a strange robot, with an X-shaped head. It did some damage, and then stole something, apparently," he said.

Kat frowned. "The new Krybot?" she guessed.

Cruger nodded. "I'm afraid so."

"This also has something to do with the state of affairs between us and the military, right?" asked Kat.

"We need to see if it really is the new Krybot. If it is, and we can confirm it, it will be our problem, not the military's."

The relationship between the military and S.P.D. had always been strained. S.P.D. actually did most of the fighting, and the military wasn't needed and seen as problematic when dealing with alien problems.

Cruger wasn't going to let the military get mixed up in the mess. Not only was it unnecessary, it would invoke panic among a large part of the alien population of Newtech City.

"So, what do we do?" asked Kat.

"We need to gain access to the records of this incident," said Cruger. "If we can prove it is one of our problems, the military cannot intervene. It'll be best if we do this in your lab."

"Getting the records and the military to co-operate will be difficult," stated Kat as they walked to her lab.

"Which is why I need to you be prepared to hack into their database if necessary," finished Cruger.

Kat sighed. "Alright. But we'd better see if we can get them to hand the records over."

Cruger nodded. "I'll call them now."

They entered Kat's lab, and Kat activated the communications unit.

Kat stood next to him as he did connected with the local military base. A voice greeted him.

"This is Commander Cruger from S.P.D., I need to speak with the officer in charge," said Cruger. The voice requested his ID number, which Cruger gave.

There was a pause, and a man in a uniform appeared on the screen.

"Commander Cruger, I am Major Brandon, officer in charge here. What do you need, Commander?"

"I need information regarding the attack launched against one of your convoys earlier today," said Cruger.

"That information is classified, Commander."

"It is imperative for the safety of the planet, Major."

The debate went on, and as Kat was thinking of ways to hack into their network when finally, the Major relented.

"Very well, Cruger. What do you need?" sighed the weary man.

"I need the recording of that attack. Also, I need to know what they stole," said Cruger. "My Chief of Technology here will take over the transmission of the data," Cruger said, nodding to Kat.

The data transfer went smoothly, and within minutes of bidding each other good luck, Kat was already accessing the files that they were given.

"Here it is. A recording from one of the survivors," said Kat at her computer.

The screen showed the recording of the battle. In the corner, the time appeared, as well as the date and the name of the soldier. Pvt. Wilkins, J., which were displayed in orange lettering.

The camera panned to show the lead vehicle, and then back to the truck in the middle of the whole group. There was some banter and joking from the other soldiers in the same vehicle.

"What's in that truck?" one soldier asked.

"Dunno. Heard it was some new device, or a weapon. You've all heard of the alien attacks in Newtech. Maybe it's in case S.P.D. can't handle that threat."

The banter was abruptly stopped when the lead vehicle exploded into flames. The next vehicle in line crashed, followed the next and so on until the whole convoy was bogged down.

"The hell was that?" screamed one soldier, having jumped out of the transport. He swept his weapon everywhere. Cruger and Kat saw the soldier's own weapon sweeping the area.

"Get the wounded out of here!" shouted an unseen man. There was shuffling as the camera moved towards the wrecks, before a series of blue lasers streamed through and cut down several soldiers as the shooter walked through the smoke.

The camera was blurred as the soldier fell down, before scrambling back up, from the way the camera moved.

There were the sounds of dozens of rifles going off, and an explosion as another vehicle exploded into flames. More lasers cut into the soldiers who were taking cover around the place.

"Wilkins! Fire your damned gun!" shouted a man as the soldiers did what they could to stop the Krybot.

Kat paused the recording, and zoomed in and cleared up the recording of the attacker. Cruger growled when he saw it. It was the same Krybot from before, still bearing the same marks on its armour from Cruger's ATV.

"What did it take Kat?" asked Cruger.

"An experimental electromagnetic bomb," answered Kat as she pulled up the schematics. "Or an EMP bomb as it is more commonly called. It was experimental because it only had a blast radius of no more than a hundred and fifty metres, but the EMP itself was exceptionally powerful."

"What purpose would he have with that?" asked Cruger.

"I have a few ideas, though you might want the Rangers to be here for it," answered Kat.

"Where do you think Malignticous will detonate the bomb?" asked Cruger.

"An obvious is this base, but I don't think it'll happen," said Kat.

"Why not?" asked Cruger.

"This base is shielded against EMP attacks. Even the blast from the bomb they stole wouldn't get through. Then comes the power plant. If the bomb goes off there, three-quarters of the city would be left without power, and a good portion of our systems as well," answered Kat.

"Then we'd better call the Rangers. Malignticous isn't going wait if he has a bomb in his hands. And send the Major my regards, and inform him that this is now S.P.D.'s business."

* * *

Within minutes, the four Rangers stood in Kat's lab.

"Rangers, there has been a development going on," said Cruger. "Only recently, a military convoy escorting an experimental weapon was ambushed by the same Krybot you fought earlier."

"The Krybot took an experimental bomb, and Malignticous might be planting it here in Newtech."

"Might be? With Malignticous, it most likely will be, sir," said Z.

"Possibly Z, but-…" Before Cruger could finish, the alarms went off.

Kat checked the alerts through her own station. "We got a big one," Kat said. "I'm getting three simultaneous reports at the same time. We got another one of Malignticous' soldiers and Krybots raiding the civilian laboratories, the Krybot you faced is back again at the Mall for some strange reason, and the power station is reporting that they have a perimeter breach," Kat finished.

"The power station's got to be where the bomb is being placed," said Sky.

"But they're also stealing something from the lab's again," said Bridge.

"And they're trashing the Mall!" whined Syd.

"Sir, if I can get to the bomb, I should be able to stop the timer," said Kat.

"Kat, you're not going unless you've got some kind of protection," replied Cruger.

"Funny, because I think that protection has just been completed," said Kat as she walked over to the sealed off part of her lab. They watched as she entered her code, and the doors slid open. Slipping inside, Kat came out holding her morpher.

"Kat…is that your morpher?" asked Bridge.

"Yes, and with functionality now," answered Kat.

"Well, that makes things easier," said Cruger. "Bridge, you're going with Kat to stop that bomb. If it goes off, we'll be at a severe disadvantage. Sky and Z, you two stop the Krybot from doing anymore damage."

"Don't worry Syd. We'll make sure your favourite store comes out of this intact," chimed Z.

"Syd, you and I will stop the attack on the labs. We all agree?"

"Yes sir!" came the shout from four Rangers and their newest member.

"Z, you better make sure you don't trash that store," warned Syd.

"S.P.D. Emergency!"

* * *

"Hey, ugly!" shouted Z as she and Sky ran towards the Krybot Kommando. The section of the mall was ruined, with glass, rubble and everything that was contained in a generic mall lying on the ground in pieces.

"We're here to put an end to this rampage!" shouted Sky, before muttering "if only we waited a little longer…"

The Krybot growled, and rushed at the two, raising its arms for a blow.

"Whoa!" shouted Z as she and Sky rolled in opposite directions to get away, pulling out their weapons as they did so. As the Krybot missed the blow, it was struck by lasers from Sky's Delta Blasters and Z's Deltamax Striker. It stumbled before vaulting at Sky.

"Lucky hit!" it said angrily as it kicked Sky into a stall before slamming a fist into Z's stomach and kicking her away. "You won't get another!"

"I think not!" retorted Sky before blasting the Krybot from where he was lying against. As it jumped, Z quickly brought her Striker up and into its flight path. The Striker left its mark, and sent it spinning into another food stall.

* * *

"Syd! Deal with the Krybots! I'll take care of our friend over there!" ordered Cruger.

"Yes sir!" said Syd. Realising the number of Krybots, Syd decided to up the ante. "S.P.D. S.W.A.T. Mode!"

Decked out in S.W.A.T. gear and a Delta Enforcer in hand, Syd rushed into the Krybots, her Delta Enforcer blazing as it sent Krybots to the ground in showers of sparks.

_Either the Troobian was too busy taking care of what he had stolen, or was too under-trained_, thought Cruger as he blocked a predictable blow from the soldier. With it reeling back, Cruger slashed it across the chest.

He glanced over at Syd, who was taking care of herself. "Syd, you O.K. there?" he asked.

"Doing fine!"

"Which is more than I can say for you!" the soldier roared as he rose back up, and swung a fist at Cruger which connected with the side of his helmet. The attack staggered Cruger, and the soldier wasted no time in firing at him with a blaster pistol.

"I'm not going down that simply," chuckled the soldier.

"Really?" asked Cruger from the ground. "Well, neither am I," he said, before throwing the Shadow Saber as a javelin. The soldier had to jump away and duck to avoid getting hit, and it stuck into a wall behind it.

The second it wasn't focused on Cruger was enough to let Cruger get up, and punch the Troobian in the stomach. When it went down, Cruger sprinted for the Saber. Reaching it, Cruger yanked it out of the wall and charged off to battle once again.

* * *

The upgraded Blue Patrol Cycle stopped outside the power station. Kat, who had been riding shotgun hopped off, followed by Bridge, both fully morphed.

"Looks like they simply shot their way through," remarked Kat as she pointed to the charred bodies lying around the entrance.

"Couldn't they sneak in?" asked Bridge.

"Try sneaking in with a bomb," answered Kat. They rushed towards the entrance, and found their first obstacle; a pair of Krybots guarding the entry into the station. Both were dispatched rather easily.

"If I was a Troobian with a bomb, where would I put it in a power station," mused Bridge as he and Kat entered the station.

Kat looked around, before she heard a cough, followed by a low moan of pain.

"Bridge, I think we got a survivor," said Kat as she moved towards the direction where the sound came from. Sure enough, there was a security guard, with a large part of his chest and uniformed charred trying to get up. Kat and Bridge ran towards him.

"You O.K.?" asked Bridge.

The guard coughed.

"What happened?" asked Kat.

"Robots…came through. Blasted everything to pieces…" he coughed again. "Dragged some large thing…control room…" rasped the guard.

"Alright, stay here. We'll get you out," assured Kat.

"Don't bother…I'm already dead…" coughed the guard before slumping.

"Is he…you know…" trailed off Bridge.

Kat checked the guard. "Unconscious, and with a weak pulse. Not sure if he's going to live, but we can't drag him with us."

The guard regained consciousness. "You guys…you're S.P.D., right?" he asked.

"Yeah," answered Bridge.

"Then go and stop the bomb. I'll hold any other of those robots off as best I can."

Kat and Bridge was about to protest, but the guard stopped them. "Just go. I'll be fine," he said as he dragged himself over to a dropped sidearm.

"Come on Bridge, we've got to stop a bomb," murmured Kat lowly, pulling Bridge away, before sprinting to the control room.

Along the way, they passed various Krybots as well as security guards. The arrows on the floor showed that the control room was only a few turns away. Turning the last corner, it was a long corridor that led to the control room. The doors were forced open, and they could see a large device in the middle of the room, along with a Bluehead and a few other standard Krybots.

"What!" shouted the Bluehead in disbelief as it saw two Rangers running down the corridor towards them. "Stop them!" it ordered, before running towards Bridge and Kat along with the few remaining Krybots. Bridge shot two before he was forced to switch to the Striker's sword form. Kat tripped on up, and sent one Krybot into another with a swift kick. Both crashed to the ground in front of the Bluehead as Kat dispatched two more with a series of kicks and punches.

It screamed in anger. "Looks like I have to do everything myself!" it shouted, before aiming a blow at Kat. She ducked, before somersaulting over the Bluehead and executing a roundhouse kick that hit its head and caused it to crash into a wall. Bridge blasted it, until it collapsed as scrap metal.

Kat ran into the control room, and wasted to time fiddling with a hatch on the top of the bomb. It popped open, and revealed a small timer, with a keypad. Kat's fingers were already dancing at the keys as Bridge entered.

"Uh, Kat? Not to disturb you or put pressure or anything, but I think we got company," said Bridge as a group of Krybots marched around the corner.

"Bridge! Go S.W.A.T.!" ordered Kat. "You need to hold them off long enough for me to deactivate this timer!"

"Works for me! S.P.D. S.W.A.T. Mode!" Bridge shouted, and the signature S.W.A.T. armour and enhancements appeared. He fired into the group of Krybots, occasionally ducking behind the slightly bent doors for cover.

"Uh, Kat?"

"What is it Bridge?" shouted Kat over the sound of Krybots firing and Krybots being destroyed.

"Why are they coming here, instead of trying to manually disable the reactor?" asked Bridge.

"The reactor is controlled from here," answered Kat.

"So why don't they just disable it, rather than plant a bomb?"

"Bridge, do you think Krybots are programmed to handle delicate electronics?"

"I guess not, but-…"

"Bridge!" shouted Kat, seeing a pair of Krybots pop out from behind the Blue Ranger. "Cat Stunners!"

The explosive feathers wiped out the two Krybots, and jolted Bridge back to reality.

"Uh, sorry Kat?" he offered, before blasting another group of Krybots.

Kat had already returned to her work on the bomb, and was eyeing the countdown which read two and a half minutes.

* * *

"Containment!" shouted Cruger, and the Troobian disappeared into a Containment Card with a flash.

"Commander!" shouted Syd as she ran over, still equipped in S.W.A.T. gear. "What do we do now?" asked Syd, seeing the Containment Card.

"We go and help Sky and Z. They probably need help about now," answered Cruger. Right on que, his morpher beeped.

"Commander! We need help! The new Krybot is kicking our butt's sir!"

"Hang on Sky!" barked Cruger. "Me and Syd are on our way!" he said as he and Syd ran towards their vehicles. "Kat, status report?"

* * *

Kat was watching the timer tick down even as she worked on stopping it. In less than a minute, the power supply to three-quarters of Newtech would be gone, unless she stopped it.

Kat had her morpher lying open on the bomb's casing, as to make it easier to reach and to communicate. She had almost done it…it was just a matter of finding the deactivation code and then they would be home-free.

"Kat, status report!" barked Cruger's voice over her morpher.

"I'm just about…done!" she said triumphantly.

"Good. Get to the Mall as soon as you can. We're going to need a lot of help dealing with this Krybot."

"Understood. Kat out."

As soon as she had turned it off, she noticed writing sliding across the screen where the timer had been displayed. 'TIMER DEACTIVATED. ARMED FOR REMOTE DETONATION.'

Kat cursed silently, and quickly pulled away another part of the casing. She could try to stop the bomb from sending or receiving the signal, but it would be easier just to deactivate the warhead.

As Kat pulled pried the casing open, she saw something she didn't like. Kat was a reserved person, and rarely did something because of emotions, and rarely cursed.

However, Kat couldn't help but to curse outloud.

"Kat? What's wrong?" asked Bridge as he kicked one Krybot away from the entrance, and stopped another two by blasting them. The corridor outside was littered with Krybot parts. It was like a shooting gallery, Bridge had thought.

"Well, I stopped the timer, and now I have to deactivate the warhead," said Kat.

"So what's wrong?" Bridge asked, dreading the answer.

"Who the _hell_ uses _wires_ anymore?"

* * *

A.N: Well, definitely the longest I have ever written. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hope it was up to your expectations. I also hope you enjoyed the rather brief re-appearance of the Kat Ranger, but don't worry. Kat will be a major player in the story, having revealed the story behind her and what happened and so forth. I've always thought that Kat had possibly one of the richest pasts of almost all the people on S.P.D., so I decided to go with it.

Anybody notice that Kat Ranger only comes out when there's a bomb to be deactivated? The Helios Generator in Katastrophe, and now the EMP bomb. Also, if anyone was offended by the military part, especially the recording part, I apologize deeply and from the depths of my heart. If there was anything wrong with the military terminology or how it actually works, it's because what I did there I got from Wikipedia. So, don't expect the military to show up again, they were there just so that Malignticous could get a bomb somewhere, and to showcase the Krybot Kommando's capabilities as well.

So, feel free and please do leave a comment, and I hopefully should get another chapter up before Christmas. So, here's to Kat and her newly restored morpher! If I don't get it out before Christmas, then Merry Christmas!


	7. Missing in Action

Power Rangers SPD: Aftershock

A.N: Alrighty, new chapter. First of all, thanks to the people who have reviewed so far. Secondly, this fic is nearing its end (about three more chapters to go). I know it was short (kinda…), but I had imagined it as an expansion or mini story arc rather than a full length thing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything related to them, and so on and so forth.

* * *

Kat cursed silently as she worked the inner components of the EMP bomb while Krybots attempted to enter the room. Bridge was proving to be a major hindrance to their attempts, shooting or kicking away the invading Krybots. 

"Kat, what's wrong?" asked Bridge as he kicked a Krybot out the door, before blasting the two that tried to get through.

"There are wires that control some of the bomb's function, particularly the ones that need to be disabled," said Kat as she fiddled with wiring.

"And how is that bad?" More laser fire.

"These wires weren't in the blueprints!" shouted Kat. "And I'm not a bomb disposal expert, either!"

"Try to cut some of the wires like they do in the movies!" Bridge called back over the sounds of him keeping out the Krybots.

"Bridge, this isn't a movie! Cutting the wrong wire could do something worse!" shouted Kat.

"What's worse than having an EMP go off in our faces?" asked Bridge.

"We could accidentally alert Malignticous that his bomb is ready to be detonated by remote, if he doesn't know already!"

"Just how many Krybots can he throw at us!" shouted Bridge as he blasted another group of Krybots. They ran at the control room without fear or hesitation. Two reached the doors, and Bridge was forced to revert to kicking and punching.

Things were seriously getting out of hand. The amount of Krybots that were coming were starting to increase in number, and with only one Delta Enforcer, and with one Ranger too busy to combat them, it left only Bridge to keep Kat safe while she worked to defuse the bomb.

And it was a job meant for at least two Rangers.

* * *

"Where are they?" asked an S.W.A.T.-outfitted Syd as she and Cruger ran into a devastated Mall. 

The Mall had three levels, and the second and third levels were connected to either end by a series of open walkways. Overhead, the sun shone through the glass roof.

"Let's find out, officer," said Cruger, also morphed.

Before they could get further into the ruined place, they heard yelling, and the clashing of weapons.

"Whoa!" they shouted as Sky was blown through one of the walkways on the second level, breaking the glass railing. He landed at their feet.

"I think they just found us sir," quipped Syd.

"Where's Z, Sky?" asked Cruger.

Seconds later, Z too was blown through the same walkway. Syd and Cruger caught her by the arms, and stopped the Yellow Ranger from crashing to the ground.

"Never mind," amended Cruger. The Krybot Kommando appeared at the walkway that it had knocked the Red and Yellow Rangers through.

"Not this guy again," moaned Syd. "Doesn't he know when to quit?"

"Hello Rangers. Glad we can get acquainted again!" said the robot before leaping down to get at the Pink and Shadow Rangers. "These two were becoming boring!"

Syd however, simply blasted the Krybot with her Delta Enforcer as it leapt down, causing it to crash into the ground.

"Get acquainted with this!" yelled the Pink Ranger as she stood and proceeded to fire away while Cruger charged the Krybot.

"Come on you guys, go S.W.A.T.," said Syd to Sky and Z.

"We're one step ahead of you. S.P.D. S.W.A.T. Mode!" they called.

The Krybot Kommando twirled and ducked around in a single fluid motion to avoid the Delta Enforcer's blasts before returning fire at Syd and the S.W.A.T. equipped Red and Yellow Rangers behind her.

The blue lasers forced them to dive, leap or cartwheel away, and allowed for the Shadow Ranger to get up close and personal.

Cruger parried, attacked and counter-attacked, while the Krybot did the same. However, the Krybot had the advantage of two blades, and was putting them to good use, forcing Cruger to go on the defensive.

"Syd, Z, take positions around the Krybot. See if we can surround it," ordered Sky.

"I'll take the second floor," said Syd before racing off for the escalator.

"I'm with you girl," announced Z, following Syd. That left Sky standing by himself, and after mumbling about women, he ran off to help his commander.

* * *

"Kat, I think you had better hurry up, these Krybots just keep on coming!" said Bridge, taking cover to the side of the doorway, leaning out occasionally to blast any Krybot which showed itself. They seemed to be learning; they were hanging out outside of the room, trying to blast Bridge and Kat whenever they saw either of them. 

"Don't rush me Bridge," said Kat.

"Yeah, but I can only hold off so many Krybots at once," said Bridge.

To prove his point, a group of Krybots amassed together, and barged at the room. Bridge took action, firing precise shots from his Delta Enforcer at the group. The last one entered, but was blasted out of the control room's window by a shot from Bridge's Delta Enforcer.

"How much longer?" asked Bridge. The Krybots had stopped for a moment, and the survivors from the drawn out fight had pulled back. Bridge, taking the opportunity to rest, leaned against one of the panels next to Kat, who was still crouched down, fiddling with the bomb's interior.

"I think I managed to isolate the main wires. A lot of these wires seem to be fakes, to put us off," said Kat. Despite being encased in a helmet, Kat's ears picked up the sound of a dozen pair of feet marching in their direction, along with the distinctive sound Krybots made.

"Bridge, company's coming," Kat warned. Sometimes Kat wished that the helmet was easier to remove. She could feel the beads of sweat running down her forehead as she worked.

"Back to work," Bridge sighed, moving back to the doors for protection. Kat was out of sight, mainly because the side of the bomb she was working on was covered by part of the door.

"Kat, where are you?" came Cruger's voice over her morpher.

"We're still working on the bomb," said Kat.

"I thought you said you were finished with it?" asked Cruger.

"The timer's been deactivated. The problem now is that I need to take the warhead offline, and we still have Krybots coming in," answered Kat.

"Hurry Kat. We're going to need your's and Bridge's help to disable this Krybot."

"I'm trying my best here, sir," said Kat into the morpher. "Bridge!" she called out.

"What?" he called back, firing his Delta Enforcer rapidly.

"I've isolated the real wires from the fake ones. Someone must really like you, because we've got a red, a blue, a green, a yellow and a pink wire."

Kat couldn't help a chuckle despite the conditions.

"And you're telling me this because…?" Bridge asked.

"Because this is as far as I can go," answered Kat.

"What do you mean?"

"All I can do from here is to guess which wire to cut," said Kat. "You're probably better at this guessing thing than I am."

"Ummm, maybe you haven't noticed, but we've still got a dozen or two Krybots still knocking on the door!'

"Give me your Enforcer then!" shouted Kat as she got up and ran to where Bridge was taking cover, throwing a few Cat Stunners out into the corridor for good measure.

"Come again?" he asked as she took cover next to him.

"Give me your Enforcer, I'll hold them off while you cut the wires!" repeated Kat.

Bridge sighed heavily, and handed Kat his Delta Enforcer. She took it, and shouldered it like she had done it many times before. Leaning out, Kat fired and knocked out three Krybots that had taken advantage of the lack of return fire.

"Bridge! Get to the bomb now!" Kat shouted.

He didn't need anymore encouragement, and sprinted to the bomb, vaulting over it to get to the side where the wires were hanging out. He stared at it, and looked at Kat.

"How long until it goes off?" asked Bridge.

Kat, who was still firing and tossing Cat Stunners, didn't answer for awhile.

"It's not going to go off! But it might if the Malignticous sends the detonation code to it!"

Bridge thought for awhile, before doing a handstand. Kat took a break from shooting Krybots and stared at him, before shaking her head. Now wasn't the time to be debating Bridge's odd habits.

* * *

"I'm trying my best here sir," came Kat's voice over Cruger's morpher. 

Cruger sighed, before ducking to avoid a blade aimed at his head. He kicked at the Krybot, but it jumped back. Back into Syd and Z's combined fire from where they had taken cover.

The lasers struck the Krybot, but it managed to land on its feet, before rolling away to avoid more blasts from the Red Ranger. It fired a shot at where Sky was firing from, which struck him in the chest. Despite being armoured, Sky was thrown back from the blast.

Rolling to get away from Syd and Z's superior position, it ran straight into Cruger who wasted no time swinging the Shadow Saber at the Krybot.

It had no time to dodge, and the Saber bit deep into the Krybot's armour. It skidded away, but remained on its feet, before bracing and jumping at Cruger, its arm raised. Before it could land, Syd and Z had already shot at it again, striking multiple places on its chest.

As it fell, Sky jumped up and kicked it, sending it flying further away. It crashed and landed heavily.

Sky jogged up next to Cruger. "Well done Sky," said Cruger.

"Thank you sir," said Sky before a series of lasers forced them to take cover.

"We got you covered Sky!" shouted Syd as she and Z rained lasers on the Krybot's position.

"Not anymore!" it yelled before unleashing a blue crescent of energy at their position.

"Syd, Z, get out of there!" shouted Cruger.

Syd and Z jumped off the walkway, and landed safely. Seconds later, the wave reached the walkway, and ripped it apart. Debris rained upon the two female Rangers as they ran away from the unwanted shower of glass and ceramic.

"Come on Z, let's show that Krybot how it's done!" said Syd as both ran at the Krybot.

"What is this? So eager?" it asked tauntingly.

Z jumped over it, and fired at it while she was in midair. It lost its focus on Syd, and gave the Pink Ranger an opening to run in with a kick that caused it to miss Z with a laser blast and pushed it past where Z was going to land. As Z landed, she braced herself as Syd leapt onto her shoulders, and pushed off, both of them firing their Delta Enforcers.

The lasers distracted the Krybot long enough for Syd to land in front of it, and score another kick.

"You go girl," said Z as she aimed her Delta Enforcer at the Krybot. "You're going to the scrap pile!"

Z fired, and the Krybot Kommando leapt into action. It rolled forward, and the blasts from Z and Syd went over it. It stopped in front of Syd and punched her hard enough so that she was disorientated for a few precious seconds. Those seconds were long enough for it to grab Syd and swing her around at Z.

The Pink Ranger crashed into the Yellow Ranger before she could react, and sent both to the ground as Sky and Cruger ran up.

"You girls O.K.?" asked Sky with concern.

"Yeah…never mind us…" groaned Z.

"Give us a sec or two," panted Syd who had managed to sit upright.

"Then we'll leave you to it," said Cruger, before Sky fired at the Krybot Kommando, who was little more than fifty metres away.

The Krybot jumped, flipped and dove to avoid the lasers, and returned with its own volley that forced Sky to stop firing and start dodging.

Cruger ran up to meet the Krybot with his Shadow Saber. The Krybot managed to grab onto Cruger's wrist before he could bring the blade down, and tried to bring its other arm blade down. Cruger saw it coming, and grabbed that arm.

Locked in a struggle, Sky, Syd and Z raced up to help their Commander.

"Commander! We can't get a clear shot!" shouted Sky. While he could have ordered Syd and Z to go around, separate, they were really not much of a match against the Krybot Kommando alone.

The Krybot Kommando kept manoeuvring itself so that Cruger's back was always facing the Rangers, so they were unable to shoot the Kommando without fear of hitting Cruger accidentally.

"Z, go around and flank him!" ordered Sky.

The Yellow Ranger moved off quickly, trying to stay out of the Krybot's sight.

"You're no match for me," said the Krybot to Cruger, growing tired of their wrestling match.

It kicked Cruger's leg, and as the Shadow Ranger fell, it brought its knee up, and slammed it into Cruger's stomach, causing the Shadow Ranger to double over. The Krybot Kommando vaulted over Cruger, and in midair, fired at Sky and Syd.

The blasts caused them to quickly scatter, and the Krybot Kommando landed where they were standing seconds before. It whipped around and lashed out at Syd, who was closer than Sky.

Syd took the blow and was sent careening into a store. Z answered back with a fury of lasers from her Delta Enforcer. The lasers hammered the Krybot, again sending it flying into a wall where it left a crater.

"How much can that robot take?" asked Syd as Cruger hauled her out.

"I can already hear the advertisements for this Krybot," said Z. "'It takes a licking but it keeps on ticking'!"

"How clichéd is that though?" asked Sky.

"Does it really matter?" asked Syd, eyeing the robot as it got up again.

"Come on guys, let's bring it down once and for all!" shouted Sky. The Rangers ran forward, and met the Krybot in battle.

* * *

"Bridge!" shouted Kat as lasers flew into the room, missing her by centimetres. 

The roles were strangely enough reversed now. Kat was shouting at Bridge to hurry up, while Bridge was trying to figure out which wire to cut.

"Hey Kat, in the movies, don't they usually cut the red wire?" asked Bridge.

"This isn't a movie, Bridge. There are two wires that need to be cut. I think that cutting one wrong one might cause the warhead to go off," said Kat, firing Bridge's Enforcer at the constant wave of Krybots.

Again, three Krybots got past Kat's accurate shooting, and she was forced to revert to kicking and punching at them. Kat kicked one into the wall, and punched another before grabbing it and pushing it into the other one which had entered. The one that Kat had kicked into the wall got up, but a shot from the Delta Enforcer was enough to destroy it.

"I wish I had some toast here," said Bridge.

"Not a great time to be talking about food Bridge," said Kat.

"It helps me think!" he protested.

"Just cut the wires!"

"Alright, alright! I'm doing it, O.K. Kat?" said Bridge, before taking out his Striker in its sword form.

Looking at the wires, he took a deep breath, and counted to three, before cutting two of the wires. No explosion or any kind of thing wrong. The bomb just sat there.

"It's done!" shouted Bridge to Kat, who was busy blasting at Krybots who had still not given up, despite the fact that large numbers of them covered the corridor's floor.

When the last Krybot Kat could see had fallen, Kat turned and ran to Bridge, leaning against the bomb.

"I don't think Sky and Z would be happy when they realise I had to cut their respective colours," Bridge said.

"Good job," Kat congratulated, checking the bomb. Sure enough, the bomb's fail-safe had activated, locking it down, and the warhead was offline.

"I believe this is yours," Kat said, handing Bridge back his Delta Enforcer.

"Thanks Kat. How'd you learn how to use one? You looked like a pro handling the Delta Enforcer. I mean, you did design it, and therefore probably would know more about its workings than anyone else, but-…" Bridge was cut off before he could finish, as usual.

"Later Bridge. Use your S.W.A.T. scanners to see if there are anymore Krybots in the building," Kat said, before pulling out her morpher. "Boom, are you there?"

* * *

In Kat's lab, R.I.C. lay on a desk, inactive. Boom was moving around, trying to upgrade his systems without causing damage to the robotic canine. 

He had dropped a small but vital part under the desk, and had his head underneath when the communications unit beeped loudly. Surprised, he banged his head against the desk.

"Owww…" he mumbled as he crawled out, and walked over to the terminal.

"Boom, are you there?" came Kat's voice.

Boom sprinted for the terminal. "Yeah, I'm here Kat. Where are you?" he asked.

"Don't worry about that. I need you to get C-Squad to the power station immediately. I strongly suggest that a security accompany them. Get them to the power station's control room, and bring the device in there back to the base. We don't read anymore Krybots, but that's not to say they're not there," said Kat.

"Alright Kat. Anything else?" he asked.

"That'll be all. Kat out." The link died. While Boom didn't have much authority, he had to relay the information to the acting Commander of the base.

And then he had to put R.I.C. together. While it would be problematic, Boom was sure that the increase in power from R.I.C. in his Canine Cannon form would be worth it, as would the strengthened alloy.

* * *

"Are you sure it's safe leaving the bomb there?" questioned Bridge as he and Kat ran back outside to his Patrol Cycle. 

"The warhead is offline, and C-Squad should be here soon. So it's safe, for the moment at least," answered Kat.

Outside, they ran into a pair of Blueheads.

"Now I know where all those Krybots came from," said Bridge as he and Kat stopped.

"Stop right there Rangers. You'll be coming with us," growled a Bluehead threateningly.

"Don't we usually say that, not the other way around?" whispered Bridge.

Kat fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Bridge, get to the Patrol Cycle, and give me your Enforcer," Kat whispered.

"What are you going to d-…"

Kat shoved Bridge, cutting off his question and ran. The two Blueheads turned their lasers onto the Rangers, but missed. One ran after them, and nearly caught Kat, but a swift twirl and a kick in midair was enough to discourage the Bluehead, as well as sending it flying into the fence.

Reaching the Patrol Cycle among explosions, Bridge jumped on, followed by Kat who grabbed Bridge's Delta Enforcer as he tossed it to her. As Bridge drove away, the two Blueheads leapt at them. Kat sent a stream of lasers from the Delta Enforcer whilst riding shotgun, and guided it into the Bluehead.

The Bluehead collapsed to the ground in a shower of sparks. The other was hit less, but still crashed to the ground. Kat blasted it once more straight in the head before Bridge rounded a corner, and its remains disappeared from sight.

Having disposed of the immediate danger, Kat placed the Delta Enforcer into a rack designed to hold such weapons, and wrapped her arms around Bridge's waist to keep from falling off.

Bridge, feeling a bit strange with Kat wrapped around his waist, managed to keep the Patrol Cycle straight.

"So, Kat, you never told me how or when you learned to handle a gun," stated Bridge.

"Long story short, it has been a while since I handled a rifle. A pistol, such as your standard-issue one is easy enough, but I used rifles back on my homeworld. I was a scientist, but that was before the civil war, and then came Grumm. So, when you spend a couple years fighting non-stop, it becomes ingrained into you," answered Kat.

"Alright, that explains it," said Bridge. Kat's arms felt really good where they were right now...

"Bridge!" Kat shouted.

"Huh? Whoa!" he shouted as he narrowly missed a truck, and brought the Patrol Cycle straight. "Sorry!" he apologised. Kat didn't know who to: her, or the driver of the truck.

"Just keep your eyes on the road," sighed Kat.

* * *

"Hee-ya!" shouted Sky as he leapt and corkscrewed towards the Krybot. The corkscrewing motion threw the Krybot off enough so that the lasers it fired missed, and Sky landed in front of it. Sky went for a kick, but the Krybot grabbed his foot, and pushed back, sending Sky sprawling backwards. 

"Sky, duck!" shouted Syd and Z before they fired their Delta Enforcers, giving the Krybot Kommando something to concentrate on while Cruger closed the distance.

"Haven't we tried this already?" sneered the Krybot as Cruger slashed at it. It again grabbed Cruger's wrist, but this time, Cruger swung his arm around, taking with it the Krybot.

The Krybot's back was now facing three Delta Enforcers. Sky, Syd and Z promptly fired, and as soon as they had stopped firing, Cruger punched it in the head, causing it to let go of his wrist. He swung the Shadow Saber, and hit the Krybot in the chest, causing it to crash to the ground heavily.

The Krybot got up again. This time, it staggered slightly as it tried to balance itself.

"I think we finally got it on the ropes," said Syd.

"'Bout blasted time too," added Z.

"Stay sharp Rangers," ordered Cruger, raising his Shadow Saber, causing Sky to also shoulder his Delta Enforcer.

The Krybot growled menacingly, before leaping into the group of Rangers.

"Scatter!" shouted Sky again, but this time, it came too late.

The Krybot landed in the midst of four Rangers, and before any of them could get away or aim at it, the Krybot spun around and slashed Syd and Z across the chest in one fluid motion that brought it to a halt in front of Sky. It blasted Sky across the chest, and ducked the single shot Sky had fired. Cruger tried to slash the Krybot, but it too shot Cruger before the motion could be completed.

It viewed all the Rangers lying on the floor, before walking so that it faced all of them, who were only beginning to recover.

"Did you really believe that you could have defeated me?" it asked rhetorically.

"We…still…can stop you!" gasped Sky, struggling to stand. Cruger and Z rose next, clutching their chests, followed by Syd.

"Pitiful," it remarked, before the blades began to glow a bright blue again. "Say goodbye Rangers; it was fun knowing you."

"Cat Stunners!"

A flock of explosive feathers flew by into the Krybot, followed by a series of lasers. The Krybot stumbled back from the fury of the assault, and threw the wave behind the downed Rangers.

"Kat? Bridge?" asked Syd as the Blue and Kat Rangers ran up.

"You two are the best things I've seen all day!" said Z.

"Don't worry. The best thing you'll see today is that Krybot being scrapped!" said Bridge before he and Kat ran at the Krybot.

"More Rangers!" it shouted, before meeting Kat with a blade.

Kat ducked underneath, and swept the Krybot off its feet. The Krybot jumped up, and tried to fire at Kat but was stopped by the lasers from Bridge's Delta Enforcer. As it came flying down, more Cat Stunners hit it and lit it up in a bright shower of sparks, sending it flying back into a pile of rubble.

It rose up from the pile, and angrily tossed a piece of rubble at the two recent arrivals, causing Kat and Bridge to dive in different directions to avoid it. It ran up, and grabbed Kat by the throat as she got up from her roll. Kat clawed and grabbed at its hand as it hoisted Kat up by the neck. She started choking, the metallic hand cutting off her windpipe and any subsequent air to her lungs.

"Kat!" shouted Bridge, but the Krybot Kommando threw Kat almost carelessly at Bridge.

Kat crashed into Bridge, and both of them were sent flying into the wall.

"You alright?" asked Cruger as he ran in front of them.

Kat massaged her throat through the material that covered it gingerly, but Bridge ended up answering for them.

"We'll be fine," he assured as both of them got up, Kat coughing as she did so.

The two joined in on the attack on the Krybot Kommando. Facing six Rangers, the Krybot was starting to become overwhelmed. It would halt and blast two Rangers, but another two would strike it from behind while two more attacked from either side.

"You are starting to annoy me!" it shouted, kicking away Cruger and Sky, and stopped Bridge's kick only to be knocked off balance by a roundhouse kick from Syd, allowing Kat and Z to get up and grab its arms.

Sky and Bridge took the opportunity to blast the Krybot while it couldn't retaliate, and as Kat and Z let go of it, they both kicked or punched it as it collapsed from Sky and Bridge's attacks.

Kat's morpher beeped again. "Kat here," she said as she pulled it out and ran towards the other Rangers with Z alongside.

"Kat?" came Boom's voice. "Do you need help? R.I.C.'s coming to your position, and I think you could do with his assistance," said Boom.

"Thanks Boom," said Kat as she closed the morpher. "R.I.C.'s coming," she announced as she and Z arrived in the small group of Syd and Cruger.

"That's…great…" said Sky as he and Bridge struggled with the Krybot Kommando.

"Hey! Ugly!" shouted Syd and Z at the same time as they ran at the Krybot. The Krybot didn't have time to turn around, and was hit by two kicks at the same time. Bridge and Sky stepped aside, and it stumbled between them. Bridge roundhouse kicked it, as Sky simply blasted it.

Becoming frustrated, it started to fire wildly, hitting anything from the Rangers to miscellaneous pot plants. A loud mechanical bark caught it and the Rangers attention.

"R.I.C.!" shouted Syd happily as the canine sped up, and leapt at the Krybot Kommando.

"Blasted mutt!" it shouted as it jumped to the side and tried to swat the robotic canine away. R.I.C. again leapt at Krybot, this time hitting it straight in the head. The Krybot Kommando fell to the ground, and didn't get up.

R.I.C. barked again, and chomped down on the seemingly deactivated robot's leg, and started to drag the inert body back to where all the Rangers had gathered.

"There's a good boy!" cooed Z as R.I.C. dragged it back, growling and shaking its head like a real dog. It let go of the Krybot's leg and left in front of the Rangers.

"Who's the good dog," said Syd as she and Z patted the dog.

"You pay more attention to the dog than me," Sky said to Z.

"Aww, you jealous of a robot Sky?" teased Z. Sky huffed indignantly.

"Well, he definitely helped us," remarked Bridge.

"Agreed," said Cruger.

"Nice job R.I.C.," said Kat. The Krybot's red slit suddenly lit up a blood red again.

"Definitely!" it sneered, before immediately powering up and sending a huge blast at the gathered Rangers.

The blast sent all of the Rangers flying, and crashing back down heavily. The Krybot then kicked R.I.C. away and into a wall. The robotic canine smashed through the wall, leaving a hole.

"R.I.C.!" screamed Syd.

"You should be more worried about yourself!" the Krybot said before lining up the Rangers again. Before it could fire, R.I.C. bounded out of the hole, and pounced on the Krybot, throwing off its aim. R.I.C. didn't appear to be damaged, and it growled angrily as it tried to bite through the Krybot's armour.

"How did R.I.C. do that?" asked Bridge, getting up.

"Do what?" responded Sky, also recovering from the blast and the fall.

"Well, not do what he's doing right now, because he is a dog after all, and I meant how did he survive the kick from the Krybot and going through the wall," Bridge half rambled and explained.

"Not now Bridge!" said an exasperated Cruger.

"Let's end this now!" shouted Sky. "R.I.C.! Catch boy!" he said, throwing one of the bones into the air.

R.I.C. barked loudly and leapt into the air, catching the bone and transforming to his canon mode.

"Kat!" shouted Cruger. The morphed scientist/Ranger looked at him. "Let's distract the Krybot so it doesn't try to avoid the blast!"

"Yes sir!" Kat said. "Cat Stunners!"

The Krybot saw and rolled to avoid Kat's trademark move, and rolled into Cruger's Shadow Saber. The Krybot ended up tumbling backwards, and it stopped in a crouch. The Krybot looked up to see Kat's boot flying at its face. It brought both hands up and blocked the kick. Kat however, pushed off the Krybot, and used her superior agility and feline physiology to push off in a back flip, landing and then scissor kicking the Krybot, off-balancing it and sending it to the ground.

"Go Kat!" cheered Syd, before Sky butted in.

"Kat! Get away from him!"

Kat did so without hesitation, running back to where Cruger was standing.

The Krybot managed to get up. It was now nearing the end of its operational capacity. The armour charred, dented and ruined in places, and its visual receptors were damaged, obvious from the crack that ran from the top left crescent down to the centre.

"You haven't beaten me yet Rangers! Time to finish you off!" it shouted, still defiant and unwilling or unable to accept defeat.

"Funny. That's what we were thinking," said Sky coldly.

The Krybot Kommando looked up to see the four S.W.A.T. outfitted Rangers holding the Canine Canon.

"Say your prayers," advised Z.

"Fire!" they all shouted simultaneously. A large fireball blasted out from the Canon.

"Nooo!" the Krybot shouted, before letting lose with its own crescent wave.

The fireball met the crescent as it was three-quarters of the way to the Krybot, and overpowered the wave. The wave was pushed back, and only added to the destructive power of the canon's shot.

A massive fireball enveloped the Krybot Kommando, and a pressure wave threw debris and rubble all over the place. Kat and Cruger shielded their helmeted heads and faces with their hands to stop rogue bits of glass, ceramic and metal from striking them. When the blast cleared, all that remained of the Krybot Kommando was a few parts of burnt metal and circuitry.

The Rangers let out a cheer of triumph before embracing each other, and then ran to where Kat and Cruger were standing. R.I.C. transformed back to his canine form, and ran with Sky, Bridge, Syd and Z, barking madly.

"Go Kat! You were so awesome!" shouted Syd as she embraced Kat while Sky, Bridge and Z de-morphed, and stood there watching with amusement.

"Yeah, thanks Syd," said Kat, patting Syd on the back.

"Well done all of you," said Cruger, de-morphing as well. "Looks like we've proved that these things aren't unbeatable after all."

"They were close to being unbeatable," said Z.

"Not quite close enough," said Sky, wrapping an arm around Z's waist. She whacked his arm playfully, a smirk predominant on her face.

"Kat, see if there is anything salvageable," ordered Cruger. Kat de-morphed as well, and walked to the place where the remains lay littered.

"I don't think there'll be anything salvageable other than fried Krybot parts," said Bridge as he picked up a piece of the armour.

Kat knelt down, and rummaged through the largest pile. "You'll be surprised Bridge if you look hard enough," said Kat. She flicked through some remains, and then stood up, smiling.

"This is intact," Kat said, holding a large piece of circuitry.

Bridge put down the piece of blackened armour, and walked over.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Looks like its CPU," answered Kat. "I'm pretty sure this will give answers so some of the questions."

"Can I keep this?" asked Bridge, holding onto the forearm, which was still tipped with the blade and the blaster.

Kat scrutinised it. "Yes, you can keep that. What for, I don't want to know," she said.

"Cool!" Bridge exclaimed happily. "Sky! Look! Kat said I could keep its arm!" he shouted, waving the detached limb excitedly.

Kat could only smile. Bridge was sometimes so childish. Picking up the largest piece of armour that was intact, Kat kicked a part of the Krybot. Which part, she didn't know.

"Doggie!" Kat called out.

Cruger turned around. "What is it Kat?"

"I think you should get D-Squad on clean up detail," Kat said. "There are still parts left back there."

Cruger just nodded, and continued walking out of the ruined Mall, Sky, Syd and Z right behind him, Sky's arm still wrapped around Z's waist.

Bridge ended up walking next to Kat, who brought up the rear.

"How did so much of it remain?" he asked, still holding onto the arm.

"The blast doesn't disintegrate it, Bridge," Kat answered. "It loses most of its destructive energy when it hits the target. And before you take that arm anywhere where else in the Base, let me run a scan to make sure it's safe and free of any bugs, alright?" Kat asked.

"How long does it take?" asked Bridge.

"Not very long. You can stay in the lab and wait if you want," Kat replied.

"O.K.," said Bridge.

Up ahead, even Bridge could hear Syd's shrill scream.

"My favourite store!"

Kat winced, and Bridge could only laugh.

* * *

"Therntia!" bellowed Malignticous as he stormed through the doors leading to the laboratory where the human worked. 

Therntia spun around in surprise and shock. "Yes Emperor?" he said politely.

"Your new Krybot failed to do any sort of damage to S.P.D.!" Malignticous roared. "And to top it off, they disabled and captured the bomb! What do you have to say for yourself?"

"That was simply the first Krybot Kommando, and therefore, it was a prototype," Therntia quickly and smoothly said. "The bomb, we captured it from the military, did we not? So it won't be of a large hindrance to your plans."

"You are very close to suffering the same fate that befell Choustos, Therntia," hissed Malignticous. "Do you have a plan that can spare you the same fate? Because I am willing to listen."

Therntia had not come this far, had not killed another person just so he could be vaporised less than a week after achieving freedom. He did have plans.

"I do in fact, have a plan, Emperor," he said.

"Then enlighten me," ordered Malignticous.

"Do we not agree that when something is over ten times its original size, they are more effective?" stated Therntia.

"Go on," said Malignticous. Therntia always seemed to come up with better plans he admitted to himself.

"I have devised a way of enhancing the size of ordinary things," he revealed. "For example, we could enhance the size of an average Krybot, so that it will rival the size of the giant combat robots you use."

"And you are suggesting that we use this device of yours to enhance our Krybot army?" asked Malignticous.

"In essence, yes."

"Why Krybots? Why not some of my soldiers?" asked Malignticous.

"Because simulations have shown that a wide variety of unfortunate, side-effects can happen if something organic is exposed to the beam," explained Therntia.

"Then can we use against S.P.D.?"

"While it would have made an effective weapon, the device requires a liquid that we do not possess, and it is an extremely cost ineffective way of combating S.P.D.," explained Therntia. It was the truth, but Therntia had no desire to use it upon her.

"What about the few giant robots that I have remaining?" Malignticous questioned.

"Their onboard reactor would not be able to supply sufficient power to power the robot, making them significantly easier targets for S.P.D.," answered Therntia.

"So, we can only use it on Krybots then?" asked Malignticous.

"Unfortunately, yes, if I had the liquid necessary for the device," said Therntia.

"Then go and collect the liquid you need! Take some of the Krybots for protection. I do not wish to learn how to use this device myself," ordered Malignticous.

* * *

Bridge was in the room that he now shared with Sky. He knew that it would eventually come in handy to only take up one half of the room. Sky had moved in rather quickly, and as usual, Sky's side of the room was the complete opposite of Bridge's side. _It was like Ying and Yang, black and white, butter and jam_, mused Bridge. _Wait, scrap the butter and jam_. 

Bridge wrestled the arm that he had retrieved into place on a shelf. It had been scanned by Kat, who had determined that there was nothing potentially harmful in the arm. It looked rather out of place, and Bridge stared at it as it hung limply.

"Hmmm," mused Bridge as he pulled it out. "You look rather uncomfortable there, don't you?" he asked the arm.

"Oh yes, very," Bridge said in a higher pitched voice, shaking the arm and causing the hand to flop around. He shook it a bit, until he shook it too hard and the hand ended up slapping Bridge across the face and causing him to fall down.

"Owww…" muttered Bridge. He looked around and saw Sky standing at the doorway. "Umm…how long were you standing there?" Bridge sheepishly asked with a small grin.

"Long enough…" said Sky, walking further in and falling onto his bed. "And I don't want to know Bridge."

"O.K.," replied Bridge. Before he could do anything else with the arm, the alarm sounded.

"Rangers and Dr. Manx report to the Command Centre!" said Cruger's voice.

"Ugh, let's go," sighed Sky, who had only just started to relax on his bed.

The two Rangers ran out of the room and headed for the Command Centre.

"What's going on Commander?" asked Sky as he and Bridge ran in, followed by Syd and Z. Kat already stood at the main control console. Bridge could see the outline of Kat's morpher tucked into her pocket.

"We've got something new," remarked Kat. "Giant robot attack, western district. And if that's not enough, two Blueheads are wreaking havoc in the eastern district."

"Alright, Sky, Bridge and Syd, you take the S.W.A.T. Megazord and deal with the robot. Me, Kat and Z will deal with the Blueheads, got it?" said Cruger.

"Wait. We got another alert," said Kat, fingers dancing across the keyboard. "Newtech Laboratory has a break-in. A group of Krybots, accompanying a person."

"Alright, new plan. Bridge and Sky, take the S.W.A.T. Megazord. Syd, and Z, deal with the laboratory break-in. Kat and I will deal with the Blueheads," Cruger said.

"Sir, I need to go to the laboratories," said Kat. She had recognised Therntia as soon as he had appeared on the screen.

"What difference would it make Kat?" asked Cruger.

"I know the person who's breaking into the laboratory," Kat said.

Cruger sighed. "Very well then Kat. Syd, you go with Kat to the laboratory, and Z will come with me to handle the Krybots," ordered Cruger.

"Yes sir!" replied five Rangers at once. "S.P.D. Emergency!"

* * *

The giant robot wreaking havoc and devastation across Newtech City's western district was not an uncommon sight among Newtech's residents. 

The robot stomped on a warehouse. Civilians ran screaming as the enormous appendage of the robot broke through steel roofing like it was nothing more than a piece of paper. Another factory exploded like a bomb as the robot turned its various weapons onto the building.

"S.P.D., halt!" came Sky's amplified voice. The robot stopped its spree of destruction, and looked up to see the S.W.A.T. Megazord come flying out of the heavens.

"You wouldn't know who you are messing with!" snarled the Bluehead piloting the robot. The robot fired a stream of lasers at the rapidly approaching Megazord, which quickly did a barrel roll in midair to avoid the blasts. Landing, it rolled behind a building to dodge more shots fired at it.

"Doesn't this guy know when to stop?" asked Bridge from his cockpit. Lasers flew by over every now and then, effectively pinning the S.W.A.T. Megazord down behind a large building.

"They'll stop when we're destroyed," answered Sky, thinking of a solution.

"Why doesn't he just blow up the building?" asked Bridge, becoming bored sitting in the Megazord whilst a Bluehead in a robot endlessly fired laser after laser above them.

"If it blows up the building, we'll get the first shot in," replied Sky.

"I don't mean to sound like Syd, but I am seriously getting bored here," said Bridge.

"Then think of a way out of this mess!" snapped Sky.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!"

* * *

"Is this the right place?" Z asked as she and Cruger raced onto the scene. 

While the scenery looked alright, that is, most of everything was ablaze and ruined, the perpetrators were nowhere in sight.

"It should be, seeing as this was the last place they were seen," answered Cruger. "Stay alert."

"Yes sir," said Z, before morphing into S.W.A.T. Mode.

"Over there!" Z shouted, pointing out the Bluehead that was running into an alley.

"Let's go Z!" ordered Cruger.

Entering the alley, Z could not help but feel like she was being watched.

"Do you get the feeling this is a trap?" Z asked. Cruger nodded, slowly moving down the alley, his Shadow Saber drawn and held in front of him.

Z scanned the alley once more, and could not see any traces of the Bluehead that had run into the alley.

That was, until the ground in front of Cruger beeped and exploded, the explosive throwing bits of concrete and shrapnel throughout the alley. Had it not been for their protective helmets and vests, they would have been torn apart from the shrapnel.

"Above us!" shouted Z as both Blueheads appeared on the rooftops above, and threw down the canisters that contained more of the ordinary Krybots.

"Fall back!" shouted Cruger, starting to hack away at the Krybots which had charged them. He began to step back, constantly slashing at any Krybot which came close.

Z backed away as well, firing her Delta Enforcer at the crowd of Krybots which filled up the alley. Cruger backed away, until the two were side by side, firing and slashing at the approaching Krybots.

"What's the plan, sir?" asked Z.

"First, get out of this alley. _Then_ we think of a plan," said Cruger.

Seconds later, just before the exit to the alley, a Krybot leapt at Cruger. The Krybot managed to smash the blunt end of the blade it had against Cruger's helmet. The force sent Cruger's head into the wall, which hit with a loud _crack_. Cruger slumped to the ground, the Shadow Saber dropping to the ground as well.

"Commander? I think this is getting out of hand," said Z. When she didn't get a response, she tried again. "Commander?"

Z looked away from the Krybots to see Cruger lying on the floor, slumped and not moving. The Krybot which had done the deed leapt at Z, but was blasted by the Yellow Ranger.

"Commander!" shouted Z with alarm, kneeling next to Cruger, and blasting away another Krybot. She shook Cruger, before doing it again.

"The Commander's down! I repeat, _the Commander is down_!" Z shouted into her headset.

* * *

Kat and Syd ran for the Newtech Laboratory. One was following an order, the other for an order as well as a more personal reason. 

"There it is!" said Syd. Surprisingly, there were still some security officers still alive, hunkered down behind and inside a checkpoint, desperately trying to keep Krybots from overrunning them, despite having three times less firepower.

"Syd, can you take care of the Krybots?" asked Kat. The doors to the labs were already open, and Kat could only surmise that Therntia had broken in whilst the Krybots kept the security details busy.

"You want me to take care of a few measly Krybots? Kat, you underestimate me," said Syd before running over to help the beleaguered security guards.

"Hey! You need any help?" Syd asked out of formality.

One of the guards looked up to see the Pink Ranger outfitted with S.W.A.T. gear.

"Well, what does it look like?" he sarcastically said as a laser bolt exploded on the concrete mere centimetres away. "Where's your friend going?"

Syd turned to see Kat run into the lab. "She's taking care of her own business," Syd replied, before turning her attention to the Krybots. There were a good number of them, approximately twenty. Syd figured she could at least distract them while the guards got away, and then she and Kat could finish the rest off.

"Alright, here's the deal. I'll draw their attention, you get the heck out of here," said Syd as laser bolts flew over. "Some covering fire while I get out there would be appreciated."

The guards nodded. "Alright, guys. Give the Krybots something to chew on while missy here gets the grunt work done," ordered the head of the guards.

Therntia was helping himself in the labs. He had filled two cases, or gotten ten vials of the needed fluid, and was starting on a third when a familiar voice came out from behind him.

"S.P.D., halt!"

Therntia stopped, and put the cases down and turned. The figure in the doorway stepped in, and revealed a white and orange outfit, along with a helmet.

"Power down," said the figure, revealing Kat underneath.

"Kat, long time no see," greeted Therntia. 'You haven't changed a bit."

"Those were the exact words Jake said to me when I had to talk to him," said Kat.

"What are you going to do Kat? Arrest me? Handcuffs and all? Strange fetish, don't you think?" said Therntia.

Kat eyes burned with an odd mix of hatred and pity. "Stuff it Therntia. No handcuffs. You're going straight into a Containment Card."

"What for, officer?" asked Therntia in a rather playful tone.

"Not officer, and you know what for."

"What? Enlighten me."

"I think collaborating with the Troobians should be enough to land you a booking in a Card," said Kat.

"And do you have any proof of these claims, Kat?"

"I think the Krybots outside is proof enough, don't you think?" said Kat.

"They could be a remainder that came with me to clean the place up," replied Therntia.

"Well, if that's not enough, then your disruption technology in the hands of the Troobians should be."

"And what if it isn't mine?"

"Oh well then, Jake and Mooney revealed some rather interesting things about that technology," said Kat, walking further in.

"Ah yes. How is Jake?"

"Don't try to act like you care about Jake anymore," Kat retorted.

"You cared a lot about him. You dated him, and then dumped him soon after, maybe after what you got what you wanted. Sounds _very_ caring to me," Therntia said.

"I…we had to break up. I couldn't keep up the relationship, and neither could he!" Kat said.

"And then I offered you a shoulder to cry on. You didn't; instead, you buried yourself in your work and emotions to get away from the reality of it!" Therntia said. "I admit it; you stole a lot of hearts back at the Science Academy, including mine. Then, you tore those hearts into pieces like they meant nothing to you. How many more hearts have you broken these years, Kat?"

"You go through a civil war then! You go through another war, which destroys your home, your family, everything you loved dearest! You go through a relationship, and the heartbreak when you realise that it won't work! You have no right to criticise what I did when you turn a blind eye to what went on before it!" Kat shouted, anger blazing.

Then just as suddenly, Kat's anger disappeared and she took on a much softer tone. "Don't worry Therntia. You'll go through what I did soon. You'll be able to think those thoughts again in a different perspective after Malignticous is through with us. S.P.D. Emergency," Kat said.

Her suit formed up around her again, and sealed her off from a more vulnerable world. "So Therntia, why did you join the Troobians? Was it just to get back at me? Just because you wanted me to love you but I didn't?"

"More than that Kat. Every being has a sense of self-preservation…even at the cost of others," Therntia said.

"Someone who is willingly to sacrifice others just for the sake of themselves without even thinking has no right to call themselves a being. Especially humans. All humans have a strong sense of morality. You don't deserve to be called human anymore," Kat said sadly. Raising her morpher, she was about to activate it when a laser struck her, throwing her into one of the many tables around the room.

Looking around, Kat hissed in anger as she saw Therntia run through the doors, a Bluehead right behind it.

Kat got up and ran outside, to see that the pair had stopped, Syd aiming her Delta Enforcer at them. "You alright there Kat?" Syd asked.

Kat ran to meet Syd. "I'm fine. Alright Therntia. You are under arrest for collaborating and assisting Troobian forces," said Kat.

"I think not!" shouted the Bluehead, before it pulled out an explosive and threw it at Kat and Syd.

The small explosive bounced in front of them, before Kat and Syd leapt away. But it was too late, as the explosion hurled them into a wall with enough force to cause them to de-morph.

"Ouch," groaned Syd.

Kat didn't pay attention to her as she stared ahead at Therntia.

Therntia looked back, and met Kat's eyes for seconds, before pulling away, guilt written over his face rather than triumph as he stared at the de-morphed Kat. He ran with the Bluehead, his trench coat flapping away.

"Damn, he got away," said Syd as the two of them got up.

"Yeah. Doggie's not going to be happy," said Kat.

"The Commander's down! I repeat, the Commander is down!" Z's voice suddenly said.

Syd and Kat froze.

"Oh my God," murmured Syd, before snapping out of her trance. "Z, can you read me? Z, it's Syd. Can you read?"

"Z's must be in trouble if she's not responding," said Kat. "We need to get to their position fast!"

* * *

Away in the distance, Sky and Bridge manoeuvred the S.W.A.T. Megazord so that it ended up behind the robot. The gigantic machine raised a fist, and slammed it into the robot's face, shaking the Bluehead all around the cockpit. 

"Curse you Rangers!" roared the Bluehead as it spun the robot around, and tried to backhand the S.W.A.T. Megazord, which caught the hand before it connected.

"Good job Bridge," said Sky, before the S.W.A.T. Megazord threw the arm away, and fired both of its weapons at the robot from the hip.

The blasts hit dead-on, and the robot crashed to the ground, conveniently crushing an abandoned Starbucks.

"Don't worry; those stores are everywhere," Bridge said in attempt to humour the destruction.

Sky said nothing as the S.W.A.T. Megazord walked over to the fallen robot, but was knocked onto its rear end when the robot swept the S.W.A.T. Megazord off its feet.

"Ouch!" cried Bridge as he was thrown against his harness and into the wall.

"I've got you now, Rangers!" cackled the Bluehead as the robot moved towards the downed Megazord.

"Hold on Bridge! I got an idea, and cover your eyes!" shouted Sky.

He aimed the Megazords weapons at the factory directly underneath the robot. Sky fired the Megazord's twin blasters at the fireworks factory located conveniently under the robot.

The blasts hit, and ripped through the walls of the factory, setting off the innumerable number of explosives inside. The explosion went up, burnt through the armour plating on the thighs and melted delicate electronics.

"What!" shouted the Bluehead as it lost control of the robot's leg, and was locked in place. It banged at the controls, kicked at the equipment inside, but nothing responded, save for the upper body, which was also paralysed.

"Good one Sky," remarked Bridge as he viewed the frozen robot.

Sky wasn't listening, and only saw the results of the damage; molten metal from the factory and the robot had fallen everywhere within close to a few hundred metres, catching buildings, vehicles and even people under the deadly shower.

"The Commander's down! I repeat, the Commander is down!" Z's voice blared through.

"What?" asked Bridge. "Sky, did you just hear what I just heard?"

"Yes, I did Bridge. Z broadcasted on the major channels, so I think everyone would have heard it," replied Sky.

"We better get to Z's position," said Bridge.

"No! We need to finish this robot first, then we go help Z. She can handle herself, I hope." Sky had said the last part so quietly that Bridge didn't hear.

"But the Commander and Z could get hurt!" said Bridge.

"Bridge, we finish the robot first! We have our orders; to stop this robot. We'll do so, and then head to Z's position. That's an order!"

Bridge sighed in defeat. "Alright, then let's hurry this up."

Sky didn't answer as the S.W.A.T. Megazord got up, and grabbed the disabled robot, before blasting off through the Earth's atmosphere and out into space.

"What…what are you doing!" shouted the Bluehead as the robot drifted away in space helplessly.

"Taking care of business," said Sky, punching several buttons as Bridge did the same.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord flipped, and transformed into the S.W.A.T. Cannon, aimed at the drifting robot.

"Fire!" shouted Bridge and Sky, before the Megazord fired. The blast and the ensuing explosion consumed the robot in flames, which dissipated in the coldness of space quickly.

"_Now_ can we get to Z?" asked Bridge. Sky just nodded, and the S.W.A.T. Megazord flew back down to Earth.

* * *

"Z? Where are you? Talk to us!" Syd said into the headset that her S.W.A.T. gear provided. Kat sat next to her, fiddling with the Delta Cruiser's GPS tracking system. 

"Got her!" Kat announced. "A few blocks away from the Plaza, just inside an alley!"

The radio blared again, static hissing through. This time, Z's voice came with it as well.

"…Officer…Gado…Krybots….outside…pinned down…" an explosion that echoed through the radio distorted Z's voice for a moment. "Too many…becoming overrun!" Z screamed as another explosion overcame the radio, before it died out completely.

Syd looked at Kat, who also looked worried.

"Double time it Syd," said Kat. Syd needed no more encouragement as she accelerated the Cruiser well past the speed limit. Being police helped at times.

Kat pulled out her morpher, and opened it. "Sky, Bridge, where are you two?" Kat asked.

"Look over your shoulder!" Bridge said. Confused, Kat looked around to see the S.W.A.T. Megazord flying behind them, many kilometres away from the ground.

"You got Z's latest transmission?" asked Kat.

"Yeah. Where is she?" asked Sky.

"I'm transmitting her coordinates now," Kat answered.

"Alright, thanks Kat!" said Bridge.

"We better drop the S.W.A.T. Megazord back at the Base. We'll get the Patrol Cycles and get there as soon as we can!" said Sky, before the S.W.A.T. Megazord flew away to the Delta Command Base.

"Hurry Sky," said Syd.

The Delta Cruiser eventually reached Z's last position, after what felt like forever for Syd and Kat. They jumped out, and ran towards the alley.

"Oh no," Kat said sadly as she surveyed the destruction. Krybot parts littered the area, and behind one of the large bins in the alley lay a Delta Enforcer, and the Shadow Saber.

"We're too late," Syd echoed Kat's thoughts. "Z! Commander!" Syd called out in a fruitless effort.

"Guys! Here!" came Z's distant shout. Syd and Kat instantly ran as fast as they could to where Z's voice had originated from.

"Z!" shouted Syd and Kat as they rounded a corner, and saw the Yellow and Shadow Rangers being escorted away by a large group of Krybots.

Before they could do anything, lasers fired from above sent Syd crashing to the ground, and Kat against the wall. They both slumped down together as the other Krybots dragged Z and Cruger away.

"Don't even try it," said the shooter, another Krybot Kommando, as it leapt down. It pointed the blasters it had at them menacingly.

"We're taking these two whether you like it or not. But we won't mind taking you two in as well; the extra company would be nice," it said devilishly with a laugh.

"Ugh, that sounded so wrong considering we're female," said Syd.

"I agree," said Kat.

"They're not going anywhere!" shouted Sky, as he and Bridge raced up on their Patrol Cycles. They fired the mounted laser canons, and the blasts caught the Kommando off guard. It fired back, which was dodged easily by the Patrol Cycles. The blasts it fired hit and ignited the Delta Cruiser.

Syd fired her Delta Enforcer from where she was on the ground, as Kat threw her Stunners. While both attacks missed, they ended up collapsing a power converter on top of a large metal pole as well as the pole.

The Kommando, busy with the Patrol Cycles, didn't notice the converter or pole until it was too late. The converter hit it first and bounced off. The pole however, falling at extreme speeds, smashed through the Krybot, neatly cutting through it until its momentum was expended.

"That was surprisingly easy compared to the last one," Syd remarked as Bridge stopped his bike near Syd and Kat.

"Z!" shouted Sky. Instantly, the three other Rangers looked around wildly.

There was no trace of Z and Cruger. The only thing around to suggest they were here was the dropped Delta Enforcer and Shadow Saber.

"Z! Commander!" Sky shouted once more, before falling to his knees and bowing his head down in defeat.

"Let it go Sky. They're both gone," Kat gently said, her voice beginning to crack as well. "We need to get back to the Base. To regroup and plan."

"Alright. Mind if I hitch a ride Sky?" Syd asked as she hopped onto Sky's Patrol Cycle, as Kat jumped onto Bridge's.

"Keep your attention on the road this time." Kat whispered to Bridge. He blushed furiously under his helmet.

* * *

"Excellent work Therntia!" laughed Malignticous as the technology expert walked through the doors. 

"Thank you Emperor," said Therntia. He was deep in thought, and had little desire to do anything else than to go through the conversation he had with Kat.

"What's this? Who enters!" bellowed Malignticous as a Bluehead walked through, escorted by four Krybots who were in gathered around something.

"I apologise Emperor, but we have captured two of S.P.D.'s Rangers!" the Bluehead said, waving the Krybots aside so that Malignticous could see the Yellow Ranger in the grip of another pair of Krybots, and the Shadow Ranger sprawled on the ground.

"Let go of me you simple minded freaks!" shouted the Yellow Ranger, trying to break the Krybot's grip.

Malignticous chuckled. "She's a feisty one, isn't she, Therntia?" he asked.

"And who the hell are you?" Z snapped, still trying to free herself.

Malignticous raised himself up to his full height. "I am Malignticous, Emperor of the Troobians, and your worst nightmare!"

"Yeah, Grumm deciding to have a more effeminate make-over definitely gives me nightmares," said Z.

"Take them away to the holding cell!" bellowed Malignticous. The Krybots carried out the order, dragging the Shadow Ranger's prone form and the still fighting Yellow Ranger away.

"Therntia, when can you begin the Krybot enlargement?" Malignticous asked.

"The liquid needs to be stored at extremely low temperatures to keep it in that state for the conversion," said Therntia. "I will need to set the machine up, but it will take at least four days to do so."

"Then begin setting up the machine!" ordered Malignticous.

Therntia nodded, and walked away, Kat's words beginning to form in his mind again. Walking into his lab, he shuddered as the cold hit him. The vials of liquid were kept on a rack on the far end of the room. Icicles were beginning to form on the roof, and he stared at the photo of Kat he carried around to remind himself of the hate he had against her.

_You'll be able to think those thoughts again in a different perspective after Malignticous is through with us._

Kat's words at the Newtech Laboratory. He shook his head to as if doing so could clear it of the thoughts he had. He couldn't regret his decision to join the Troobians now. It was too late, wasn't it?

* * *

A.N: And I thought that there would be a nice place to end it. Woo, I met the deadline I had set (dances)! Not much Megazord action in this fic, eh? Well, get ready for Robot Rampage next chapter! Please leave a comment, and I hope to see you then, and if I don't update before Christmas, then Merry Christmas to you all! Especially to the reviewers! And everyone else as well! 


	8. Robot Rampage

Power Rangers SPD: Aftershock

A.N: O.K. peoples, this is the beginning of the end. I'll see you all at the bottom, so let's get started! With a disclaimer…

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything related to them, and so on and so forth.

* * *

"Commander? Are you alright?"

Z's voice was distant, and Cruger could barely hear her over the sound of his head throbbing with pain. _I feel like I've been drunk too much alcohol…not that I have_, he thought.

Something- Z's hand Cruger suspected shook his shoulder. Cruger finally decided to open his eyes, and only saw a faint blurred image of a morphed Z in front of him. The background was all a sickly green and yellow colour, and in front was what seemed like bars…

"Commander? Are you feeling any better?"

Z's voice was much clearer now, and Cruger could finally make out the features of the place they were in; not that there was anything much to actually take in.

Cruger struggled to get up. "I'll live Z," he said, and stood up, before collapsing again. Z hauled him up, and leaned him against the wall.

"You better take it easy sir. You took a nasty blow from the Krybot, and then hit your head, before they got us and threw us in here," Z said.

Memories came flooding back. He and Z went to find the Krybots. More specifically, two Blueheads. They got ambushed in an alley, and then soon after, Cruger woke up to find himself here.

"What happened?" he asked Z.

Z sighed. "Well, first of all, we had an alert, before you ordered us to pair off to fight the threats across Newtech, and then-…"

"I remember all that, Z. What happened after I blacked out?"

"After you were knocked unconscious, I had to try to drag you behind some cover in that alley. There were too many Krybots, and not a good position in the alley to hold them off. They overwhelmed me, and forced me to surrender, otherwise they said they'll blast you," Z said.

"And then?" Cruger prompted.

"Then, Syd and Kat came after us. They were already taking us away, so I managed to call out to them. They came, and then got attacked by another one of those strange Krybots, which almost got Syd and Kat as well, had Sky and Bridge not intervened. While they battled the Krybot, the other Krybots took us to here," Z finished.

Now things made more sense to Cruger. "And where exactly is here?" Cruger asked.

"We're in the _Chimera_'s holding cells," Z said.

"Why haven't they taken away our morphers?" Cruger asked, feeling around and finding his. Z's was still locked into her S.W.A.T. vest.

"Dunno," Z shrugged.

"Have you tried to communicate with the others?"

Z went silent for a few seconds, and Cruger then had the impression that she had a sheepish smile under her helmet.

"Oops, well, here goes nothing," Z said. "Sky? Bridge? Anybody? Can anybody read me? Syd?"

Z got nothing but static from her headset. She shook her head.

"Nothing sir," she reported. "I think that's why they didn't take our morphers- we can't get a signal through to them."

"Try using your scanners; I want to see if they have a disruption field up," ordered Cruger.

Z did so, and shook her head soon after.

"Static again, and its not working. Same effects as last time in the warehouse," said Z.

Cruger nodded. "Then we have to wait until the others are ready Z. They have their own problems, and they can't spot us or our signals through the satellite sensors. Malignticous won't simply stop attacking Newtech because we are captured."

Z sat down against the wall. "Then we're in for a long haul then, aren't we?"

"Just be patient Z. They'll eventually come. Kat's friend is working on getting around the disruption tech. They'll get past it eventually," said Cruger.

* * *

The sky was dark in Newtech. The sun had fallen, symbolically signifying the beginning of Newtech's nightlife. The features of the night sky, bright with stars which couldn't be seen from the prison cell also couldn't be seen from within the Command Centre of the Delta Command Base.

Kat glanced at her watch. The face of the antique read little over 9:00 pm. The Delta Command Base was dark, with little lighting save for the bare minimum, and the Command Centre was still bathed in the dim blue light that made everything appear to seem antiseptic.

The screens continued to blink, and Kat moved between many, waiting for the rest of B-Squad to show up. Ironically, all that was left of B-Squad was what they had in the beginning.

Kat moved to the main console, and started typing. She typed an E-Mail, and forwarded it to Jake's address, requesting a progress update from him…and her recent encounter with Therntia.

Kat still bore the strange mix of hatred and pity for Therntia. On one hand, she hated him for joining the Troobians as a way to get back at her, but she felt pity for his delusional thinking; as if joining the Troobians was a way to get back at people.

The Command Centre was devoid of any staff, excluding herself. Few people were allowed to be in the Command Centre after hours, save the Commander, herself and the B-Squad Rangers. While it would make getting the news across to B-Squad easier, it also meant that during times of crisis, Kat was often over-worked, pulling two duties.

Kat was in the middle of looking through scans of the Krybot Kommando's CPU when the doors to the Command Centre quietly hissed open, and three people walked in.

"Sky, Bridge, Syd," Kat greeted as they walked in and stood, leaned or sat at various stations. She quickly shut off the screen she was using before turning to talk to the Rangers.

"So, what's up Kat?" asked Bridge.

"Any luck?" Syd prompted. Sky just stood there, apparently wallowing in his thoughts. Bridge shook him, and Sky snapped out of it. He glared at Bridge, who shrugged, before looking at Kat.

Kat sighed in defeat. "No luck finding Z or the Commander," Kat said. Three collective groans came from the disappointed Rangers.

"Did you find their signals at all?" Syd asked.

Kat shook her head, and leaned back against the main console. "I have a reason to think that the Troobians are using the disruption field they used against you to mask their signatures, whether it be communication signals or heat, or infrared or whatever. They probably blocked the signals from their morphers as well."

"So they can't communicate with us, or us with them?" Sky asked.

"I'm sorry to say so, but yes, we can't communicate with them," Kat answered.

There was silence in the Command Centre as the four Rangers thought for precious moments.

"So, we're pretty much lost on what to do next then, I suppose?" asked Bridge.

"Not really Bridge. My friend is working on a way to get around or to neutralise the disruption field's effect. We just have to hold off Malignticous until then," answered Kat.

"We don't have a Commander though," said Syd.

"Well, under the guidelines for this kind of emergency, the Red Ranger of the current active or highest ranking squad will take the Commander's position," Kat said.

"So that'll mean you then, Sky," said Bridge, patting him on the back.

"You got promoted. It's like your dream come true!" said Syd.

Sky just frowned, and Bridge's and Syd's faces fell. "What's wrong?" asked Bridge.

"I just don't think I'll make a good leader," said Sky.

"What makes you think that?" Kat asked.

"I chose wrongly when Cruger and Z got taken. I wanted to finish off the robot, and if I hadn't, who knows, me and Bridge could have gotten there faster and prevented all this," Sky revealed.

Syd's jaw dropped. "Sky! You were just following orders, just like me and Kat! We couldn't have done any better," she argued.

"Syd's right Sky. Like she said, orders are orders. You're a soldier. Well, kind of," mused Bridge. "I mean, are we intergalactic police officers or soldiers? Anyways," Bridge hastily said, "You're a soldier. Or police officer. Or whatever! The point is, you have to follow orders. And you did, so there's nothing more to worry about."

"They're both right Sky," Kat said, stepping down from the elevated platform upon which the main console sat. "You've shown remarkable progress as a team member, and a team leader since Jack left. You'll do well until we get the Commander back. And if had left the robot, who knows what damage it could have done. Despite being disabled, the weapon systems were still fully functional."

"Yeah, so it's what, three to none? I think that's majority Sky," said Bridge.

Sky sighed. "But what about the damage done when the factory exploded? People were hurt when I destroyed it," said Sky.

"No-one was in the factory when it exploded, so, other than property damage, you'll be in the clear," said Syd.

"So are you ready to lead us?" asked Kat.

"No," Sky said firmly. Bridge, Syd and Kat were taken back by his response.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" asked Syd, confused.

"I can't lead the whole Earth division of S.P.D.," said Sky. "I'm confident leading you guys, but you're my friends. The rest of the Delta Base is a different story."

"Hey, if you can lead us, you should be able to lead a base. It's exactly the same. Just more people. And more things to take care off. Oh, oh right. It's not the same," admitted Bridge.

"Why can't you lead us, Kat?" asked Sky. Syd and Bridge slowly turned to face her.

"Yeah, if Sky won't lead us, why can't you?" asked Syd.

"Because I'm not a leader!" Kat argued. Bridge let out a cough that sounded like 'liar'. Kat just glared at him.

"See!" said an excited Bridge. "Kat has her own version of the same look Sky or Cruger does when we do something wrong! She's perfect for leading us!"

"Guys, I'm a scientist. Not a fully trained Ranger like you," Kat said, almost desperately. Another cough from Syd this time.

"Well, you did really well as a Ranger. You held your own out there against Mooney that first time, then both times when the Delta Base was attacked, and most recently you became a full-time Ranger. Sounds like you're more than just a scientist," Syd innocently stated.

"And you told me that you were a soldier once. That means that you would have some kind of experience leading people," Bridge also said.

"Face it Kat; the facts add up against you. You'll be better as our temporary Commander," Sky said with a rare smile. "In fact, I pass my Commander duties onto you from now on, Kat."

"Commander Manx," mused Bridge.

"Sounds just as good as Cruger," joked Syd. "Seriously. It does."

Kat sighed. She looked around at the hopeful faces in front of her. "There's no way out of this, is there?" Kat asked.

All of them shook their heads vigorously.

Kat sighed again. Things were definitely not going the way she had planned them. "Alright then, I'll accept the temporary position of Commander in the absence of Commander Cruger," Kat said.

Sky, Bridge and Syd started clapping softly. Kat smirked. "But, I shall need Sky's help in assisting me with my commanding duties, since I have to pull double duty as acting Commander and Chief of Technology as well."

Sky was shocked, before Bridge and Syd clapped again. Sky closed his mouth and straightened up. "I'll do my best to assist you," he said.

"Now that that's been taken care of, we'll have to decide what to do next," Kat said.

"Someone should tell Jack that Z's missing," Syd said sombrely

"I'll get it done," Sky said.

"And someone needs to inform Isinia that Cruger's gone as well," Kat said. All the members of B-Squad looked at her.

"You can do it," they chorused.

"Fine. Is there anything else that needs to be taken care of?" Kat asked.

"I don't think so," said Sky.

"All right then, dismissed," Kat ordered.

"You're fitting into the role quite nicely already Kat," said Bridge, before leaving the Command Centre.

"And good luck with Isinia!" Bridge called out as he left.

Kat rubbed at her temple, in an attempt to erase the upcoming headache. Her species was similar to humans in the effect that headaches were often experienced, especially during times of stress.

Ever since Cruger had been reunited with his wife, Kat and Isinia had been on rather uncomfortable terms with each other. Neither really was jealous of each other; rather, Kat saw Isinia as a distraction to Cruger's duties, and Isinia saw Kat as a threat due to the time she had spent with Cruger whilst Isinia was held prisoner. Bridge had joked it was something to do with cats and dogs, and Felix had declined to say anything about it.

Kat left the Command Centre, the doors automatically locking themselves after her. She walked along the corridor down to where Cruger's quarters lay, and where Isinia most likely would be. The female Sirian was rarely seen around the Base during the day, staying out of sight somewhere.

Kat reached the elevator, and rode it to the floor where her shared quarters with Boom lay, as well as all the other Chiefs of their respective fields, and the Commander's quarters lay as well.

Reaching the door, Kat steeled herself, and pressed the chime for entry. A few seconds later, the door quietly hissed open and Isinia peeked out.

"Dr. Manx. What can I do for you?" Isina asked quietly.

"It's about Do-, I mean, the Commander," Kat corrected herself.

"He's not here. In fact, I was hoping that you knew where he was."

"I think it would be better if we held this conversation inside," Kat said.

"Very well," Isinia said, before opening the door enough for Kat to go in.

Kat strode in, and stood in the living area of the quarters. Isinia locked the door, and walked over.

"So, what is it?" Isinia asked.

"It has something to do with the Commander's whereabouts. The last time he went out, it was with our Yellow Ranger to stop the Troobians attack on the city," Kat started.

"And?" prompted Isinia.

Kat took a deep breath. "He and the Yellow Ranger were ambushed. I'm sorry to say so, but he's…gone."

"…Gone?" Isinia looked shocked.

"He was taken prisoner by the Troobians. We can't find him or our Yellow Ranger, yet."

"Yet?"

"We're working on getting through the Troobians technology to find him," Kat said. "It might take a few more days to complete, though."

Isinia sunk down on one of the chairs across the room. She was obviously shocked and the news had hit her hard.

"Th-…thanks for telling me," she said weakly.

Kat could only nod, biting her lip. "Do you need any help?"

"No. At least, I don't think so. I just need to sit down, clear my head for awhile." Isinia struggled to get the words out.

Kat exhaled, and walked to the door. "I'll leave you to do so then. If you do need help, don't hesitate to call me," Kat said. Reaching the door, Kat turned back to where Isinia still was seated, looking numbly at the floor.

"Isinia."

The Commander's wife turned around to look at Kat, standing in the open doorway.

"I'm sorry for the loss as well," Kat said, before leaving, the door shutting quietly behind her.

Outside, Kat leaned against the wall, looking both relieved and exhausted. She never knew telling someone about a loss could be so tiring. Kat looked at her room further into the level. She could really do with the sleep, but she had work to do, in the form of an upgrade to her morpher. Boom was already asleep, leaving Kat do it the upgrade alone.

While it would make things easier, Kat could really do with some company. Loneliness was something that the two females had in common. Isinia was left without Doggie for the first time in days since they were reunited, and Kat had been left feeling lonely ever since meeting with Jake for the first time in years.

* * *

In the darkened Rec Room, Sky, Bridge and Syd sat on the couches. Sky was being even more quiet than usual. Syd was flicking through a magazine, not really focusing on the pages. She just turned and turned and turned. The light, or rather, lack of lighting made reading the articles within difficult, which added to the mindless way in which Syd flicked through. Bridge came back from the synthesiser, holding and eating a cupcake.

"Let me guess; you think you're responsible for what happened to Z and the Commander?" Syd asked as Bridge flopped down next to her.

"Yep," Bridge answered through a mouthful of cake. Sky just buried his head in his hands, and placed his elbows on his knees.

"What's wrong Sky?" Bridge asked. Syd nudged Bridge in the rib, and gave him a pointed look. "I did need to say something," he whispered to Syd, who gave up.

"Nothing's wrong Bridge. Just eat your cake," Sky muttered.

"Sky, didn't we tell you not to beat yourself up over Z and the Commander's capture?" Syd said.

"Yeah. The bad guys beat us around enough already without you doing it to yourself," Bridge added.

"Thanks guys, but just drop it, okay?" Sky said. It came out rather muffled because his head was still buried in his hands.

"What was that Sky?" Bridge asked.

"Bridge, just leave him alone," Syd sighed. "When do we tell Jack that Z's gone missing?"

"We'll tell him tomorrow morning," Sky mumbled.

"I think we should think something up so that it'll soften the blow for him," Syd said.

Bridge thought for the moment. "How about we tell him that we couldn't do anything about it?"

"That's kind of saying that it wasn't our fault," Syd said. "It'll probably make him think that we are trying to give a reason why he shouldn't blame us."

Bridge pondered, and stopped eating for awhile. "Well, what should we tell him?"

"Just the truth," groaned Sky.

"How about that we're going to get her and the Commander back as soon as Kat's finished working out a way to get past their disruption field?"

"That's classified information Bridge," Syd said.

"Well, we'll just say we're going to get her back soon then. Is that classified?"

"No it isn't," Sky said.

"Oh good, we do have something to tell him then."

A lengthy silence followed in the darkened Rec Room, only punctuated by the sounds of Bridge chewing on his snack, until Syd stood up.

"Not to say this isn't fun or anything, but I'm feeling tired now. I'll catch you guys in the morning. Good night," Syd said, getting up.

"Night Syd," Bridge said.

"Night," Sky mumbled.

"Night Bridgey, Sky. Back to the time when I had a room to myself," Syd said, walking out of the Rec Room.

"I think Syd is right. We better go to sleep now as well; who knows what'll happen tomorrow. This may be the last time we get to sleep for awhile," Bridge said, standing up and finishing his cupcake.

"Just like the time when we fought all those robots? That time when you kept falling asleep?" Sky asked.

Bridge laughed. "Good to know that your sense of humour has returned."

"When did I have a sense of humour?"

Bridge pondered the question. "Hmmm…good point Sky. You didn't have one during the first years at the Academy, and then you didn't have one for awhile when Jack and Z first came in. I think it was about…I dunno actually," Bridge said, scratching his head and scrunching up his face in thought.

"Doesn't matter now Bridge. Good night."

"…Alright. Good night, I'll see you later. Wait, we share the same room. So, yeah, I _will_ see you later. Good night anyways," Bridge said, walking out of the room, and leaving Sky alone with his thoughts.

Sky sat and stared at the floor for a few moments, trying to rid his head of thoughts about what had happened, what he could have done, and what he should have done. Giving in to exhaustion, he too got off the couch, and headed out of the room. Turning off the lights was unnecessary- it did so by itself as it registered no-one in the room, and dimmed. The door closed, and Sky walked off towards the room he shared with Bridge.

For once, Sky was glad that he had to share a room with Bridge. He had no desire to face the night alone with only his thoughts to accompany him, despite the fact that he would lose a great deal of sleep from Bridge's incessant talking about anything and everything.

* * *

The night passed quickly into morning, and the bright sun rose over Newtech City, reversing the process that was done during the night. Now, the cleaner, friendlier side of Newtech City was in full force. People rose to begin their daily schedule, and radios blared as music, news and other reports came and went.

Inside a Troobian prison cell aboard a Troobian ship however, neither Z nor Cruger could experience the change. Indeed, the only way they knew of the transition from night to day was the in-built watches on their morphers.

Cruger opened his eyes to see Z slumped uncomfortably against the side of the prison cell. The Yellow Ranger was still fully morphed, and the armoured vest and helmet wouldn't have done much to alleviate the awkwardness of the position in which she was slumped.

Looking around, Cruger saw no guards. Risking a great deal, he pressed a button on his morpher, and his suit disappeared around him, and braced himself.

Nothing. No poisonous gases, no attempt to blast him. It was rather nerve-wracking to be un-morphed inside a Troobian prison cell, but he had to do so.

Not wanting to stay un-morphed for any longer than necessary, he quickly hit the button again, and in response, his suit formed up around him, sealing him off.

Against the wall, Z had just started to stir. She cracked her neck to relieve the strained muscles there, and looked around, the effects of sleep still deep in her system. Z looked around, until she saw Cruger.

"Sir," Z said tiredly, trying to salute, but ended up dropping the arm, too tired to do anything other than to lie against the wall.

"How are you feeling?" Cruger asked.

"Fine, just really tired," Z answered.

Z stared at the bars of their cell. She looked and thought, until she had an idea.

"Z, what are you doing?" Cruger asked as she got up, and de-morphed.

Z tried to create a duplicate of herself on the other side of the bars, but after two minutes of concentration, the replica did not appear.

"You're trying to create one of your duplicates aren't you?" Cruger asked.

"Why won't work?" Z shook her head in frustration.

"Energy dampeners," Cruger answered.

"What?" Z asked as she turned to face Cruger, who was still in his Ranger form.

"Energy dampeners. It's a feature that all Troobian ships have, to keep prisoners with special powers or abilities from using them to escape. It was on Grumm's ship as well."

"So why can't I create any of my duplicates beyond the cell?" Z questioned.

"Because the dampeners prevent you from using your genetic powers, cutting them off."

Z sighed and slumped back, pressing her morpher to cause her Ranger form to appear around her, minus the S.W.A.T. gear, which other than providing protection, wouldn't be of much help without the Delta Enforcer, which she had dropped back at the ambush site.

"Why aren't they torturing us or interrogating us?" Z asked from her place against the wall.

"Because they most likely don't have to. They don't want to infiltrate S.P.D.; they just want to destroy it," Cruger answered.

"That's reassuring. Then what would they do with us?"

"After destroying the Delta Base, going by Troobian standards, we'll most likely to be vaporised."

* * *

In the Delta Command Base, the Cafeteria was as usual packed in the morning. The last few days however, the Cafeteria seemed even fuller, due to the influx of survivors from the battle in orbit, many of which had been assigned to different positions within the Delta Base.

"Bridge, how long does it take you to eat your toast?" Syd asked.

"Syd, they say patience is a virtue. I think it should apply to eating food as well," Bridge answered.

Sky, who had finished eating, along with Syd watched the Blue Ranger crunch away.

"I'd prefer that we'd get to Jack and tell him about Z before the morning is finished, Bridge," Sky said.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to have Cruger, I mean Kat, call us in the middle of the conversation informing us about another attack," said Sky with annoyance.

"Okay, give me, say, five minutes?"

"Two Bridge."

"Two?" Bridge exclaimed in shock. "I need at least four, Sky!"

"Three Bridge. Final offer," Sky deadpanned.

Bridge sighed in defeat, as Syd looked on with an amused expression. He started to eat faster, and Sky grinned.

Three minutes later, according to Bridge at least, the three people of B-Squad left the Cafeteria and headed out of the Delta Base in the Delta Cruiser.

Five minutes later, they had reached the place where Jack and Ally collected clothes and distributed the items. Parking, they all hopped out, and headed over.

"Jack!" called Sky, as the former Red Ranger looked up from his work and saw his old friends walking towards him.

"Hey guys!" he called back. "Ally! S.P.D.'s here."

Jack's associate and as of late girlfriend came out of the place where the items donated were stored.

"Hi," she said as Sky, Bridge and Syd reached a comfortable distance.

"Hi Jack, Ally," greeted Sky as he shook hands with Jack and Ally. Bridge got a slap on the back from Jack, who was embraced by Syd.

"So guys, what brings you here?" questioned Jack. "And where's Z?"

At once, the rather good atmosphere disappeared, and Jack saw that they all suddenly looked crestfallen.

"You might want to sit down for this," advised Sky. Jack and Ally did so, seating themselves on a flimsy looking box.

"Did you see the battle we fought yesterday?" Sky asked.

Jack nodded. "The giant robot one? Yeah, I think the whole city saw the explosion. What does that have to do with Z and why are you here?"

"Well, the robot was actually only one of the three attacks that happened at the same time. Me and Sky handled the robot, Syd and Kat took care of the attack on the labs, and Z and Cruger dealt with another random attack," Bridge said.

"Wait, hold up a sec here. First of all, Kat's a Ranger? And secondly, again, what does this have to do with Z?" asked Jack.

"Kat became a Ranger the day before yesterday," Syd said.

"Or two days ago," Bridge added helpfully.

"And about Z, well, Jack. She went with Cruger to stop the attack, but from what little she transmitted, they were ambushed by Krybots, and then overwhelmed. Jack, they've taken Z prisoner," Sky said, trying to keep emotion from his normally strong voice.

Jack was left speechless. "Wh…what?" he quietly asked. Ally was just as shocked.

Sky took a deep breath, but Bridge butted in. "Jack, the Troobians have got Z. We don't know where she or the Commander is, but we're doing our best to find them and bring them back," Bridge reassured.

"Hey Jack, we got another call-…aghh! S.P.D.!" shouted an alien as he walked through the doorway, saw Sky, Bridge and Syd scattered around and promptly dived back in the doorway again.

"Nice to see you as well, Piggy," Sky said.

"Huh? Oh. You guys again," Piggy said, brushing dust off his clothing. "I haven't done anything wrong these last few weeks. So, no reason to come for me!"

"We're not here to arrest anyone, Piggy," said Syd. "We just needed to talk to Jack."

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll leave you guys to it then." Piggy then disappeared from the door in no small hurry.

Jack still sat still on the box. Ally had recovered somewhat, and had draped her arm around Jack, patting his back and whispering to him.

"Gone Sky? As in…" Jack couldn't finish the sentence.

"No Jack. She's just missing."

He breathed a small sigh of relief. "There's still hope then," Jack mumbled, and rose up rather shakily. "Thanks for telling me guys. I'll…I'll see you guys later."

Jack and Ally disappeared into the building, and left Sky, Bridge and Syd looking at each other.

"His reaction was better than I expected," Bridge chimed in.

"Come on. We better head back to the Base," Sky said heavily, before walking off towards the Cruiser, Bridge and Syd following behind.

* * *

In the Command Centre, Kat had already addressed most, if not all of the entirety of the Base about Cruger's capture, and the fact that she was forced to step in as acting Commander, with Sky as Co-Commander.

Everyone had accepted her and Sky without a general problem. The only problem was that morale had dropped dramatically ever since the news was relayed. Kat only hoped that they would have rescued Cruger before the media got a hold on Cruger's disappearance.

Kat sighed as she viewed the upgrades to her morpher. They were almost done, however, Kat had put off the final part because it would require her full attention, and she wouldn't trust Boom to do it, more because of what could happen to him if it was done wrongly.

With that in mind, Kat opened the communications channel to Sky. "Sky, do you read?"

"Yeah, Sky here. What's wrong Kat?"

"I need to you take command when you get back. I have something else to get done," Kat said.

"Sure thing Kat. We're almost back at Base anyway."

"Good. And how did Jack take the news?"

Silence filled the channel for a moment. "He took it alright actually. I think he'll need a couple of days to get his head around it."

"That's good to know. When you get back, Sky, you report to the Command Centre, and take over. Bridge, Syd, you two just train for awhile," Kat ordered.

"Yes Ma'am," the three Rangers chorused, before Kat closed the channel. She glanced around at the Cadets and Officers working on the various consoles, some monitoring the city, others giving out patrol orders.

"Officer Tate will be in charge when he arrives, understand?" Kat called out.

A series of 'Yes Ma'am' echoed throughout the Centre as Kat headed out the doors and walked towards her lab. She only prayed the Boom hadn't done something stupid in there.

* * *

Therntia viewed the prison cell holding the captured Rangers with disinterest. The only reason he was watching them was because he had run out of things to keep his mind off Kat.

The machine that was going to enhance the size of the Krybots was all set up; it was just beginning to power up and run through the initialising sequences that were required.

He had nothing else to do, and the liquid he had taken was already placed within the machine, so the lab was back to its normal temperature, which still was cold. The icicles on the ceiling of the lab still hung there, and had refused to budge, and Therntia had seen no reason to get rid of them.

"How are our 'guests' coming along?" hissed a voice from behind him.

Therntia slowly turned to face his employer and leader.

"They seem to be doing nothing," he said.

"That is to be expected. Is either one of them the one you seek for your 'amusement'?" Malignticous asked.

Therntia looked at them, remembering that Kat had a white and orange suit. "No."

"A pity. Then you should make due with one of them," Malignticous said in an offhanded manner.

"Excuse me, Emperor, but I believed we had a deal," Therntia frowned.

"Our 'deal' is void!" shouted Malignticous. "Your weapons and plans have failed to do any sort of significant damage to S.P.D.! We have expended far too many resources on your plans, resources that could have been used rebuilding this ship!"

Therntia said nothing, and kept his growing anger in check. Malignticous was far stronger than him, and had the backing of the remainder of his army with him, as well as the two hundred or so remaining Krybots.

"The Krybots should be able to destroy the Rangers, Emperor. They haven't faced ten oversized Krybots before," Therntia said.

"They have defeated everything else you have devised as well!" Malignticous roared.

"The data we obtained from those battles may help us gain a deeper insight on how they fight, Emperor!" argued Therntia. "We can see how they function when one-third of their team is gone!"

Malignticous thought it over, and then acted. In a single swift motion, he strode over to Therntia, and landed a heavy blow against Therntia's stomach. The blow sent the scientist flying against the far wall.

"This may be your last chance Therntia. Be warned," Malignticous said before walking out.

Therntia got up, and leaned over a desk, clutching his stomach. He coughed, and spat. Blood came out with it, red blood typical of humans. He stared at the colour of the blood. It didn't seem right to him anymore.

_You don't deserve to be called human anymore. _

Kat's words rung in his head again. He stared at the red blood. _I am human, aren't I? I have red blood. Humans have red blood. I should be human_, he thought.

He had thought that he was safe when he was accepted by Malignticous. He now realised that no-one was safe, especially with Malignticous. He wondered what was better, to be on the side of good, or bad if no-one was safe. He was beginning to regret his decision now.

He moved the device outside of the ship, and alerted Malignticous. The Krybots were about to receive a massive growth spurt.

* * *

Kat stepped out of the entrance of her lab, the doors automatically locking themselves behind her. She looked at her morpher, and had a small smile on her face. _Just one small victory over the latest defeat_, she thought.

Placing it back in her pocket, Kat headed for the gym. Entering, she noticed that whilst there was plenty of occupants inside, none were the ones she sought.

Kat stopped one of the occupants as he left. "Did you see where the B-Squad went?" she asked.

"I think they left about five minutes ago," the alien answered, scratching its bald head. "Just two of them; I think it was the Blue Ranger and the Pink Ranger."

"Thank you," Kat said, before turning around and heading off in the direction of where she suspected Bridge and Syd to be; the Rec Room.

While Kat could have tested the new upgrades for her morpher against simulated Krybots, Kat preferred to test it against a real person, who could make their own decisions, rather than pre-programmed artificial opponents. It would push both Kat and her morpher to the limit, which she wanted to get done so if there was anything wrong with it, it could be identified and corrected, rather than to have something go wrong in the middle of a battle.

Reaching the Rec Room's entrance, Kat bumped into Syd as the Pink Ranger walked out.

"Sorry Kat," Syd apologised. Luckily, neither of them had been walking fast enough to be knocked down.

"It's alright Syd. Is Bridge in there?" Kat asked.

"Yeah, he's in there, eating toast as usual," Syd replied.

"Thanks Syd. Did Sky let you off training early?"

"Yeah, it took a lot of begging and other things just to let him give us a break," Syd sighed.

"Well, you can go do, well, whatever you're going to do. Keep your morpher with you in case," Kat said.

"Alright, thanks for the advice," Syd said, heading off, and leaving Kat standing in the hall outside the Rec Room.

Kat walked into the room, and looked for Bridge. Sure enough, the Blue Ranger was chomping at a pile of toast. Kat strode over to him, with Cadets parting to let her pass.

"Bridge," Kat said. "Are you doing anything busy, besides eating?"

"Hey Kat. Umm, not really. Why?" asked Bridge.

"I was wondering if you could help me test out the latest upgrades to my morpher," Kat answered.

"What do you mean by test, Kat?" asked Bridge.

"Just a little practice simulation. I need to see how well it works under the strain of combat," said Kat.

"Umm, sure. I don't see any reason not to. Do I need to bring anything?"

"No. Just bring your morpher, which you should be carrying with you anyway," Kat answered.

"Now?" Bridge asked.

"Now would be preferable."

"Alright. Lemme finish this piece first," Bridge said, quickly eating the last of the toast while Kat waited patiently.

"Done?" Kat politely enquired as Bridge stood up, and brushed off crumbs from his jacket.

He looked up at Kat. "Yep," and followed Kat as she walked out.

"Where are we testing this?" Bridge asked.

"In the Simulator. Where else do you train while morphed?" Kat responded.

"Well, nowhere," Bridge said.

The two eventually reached the entrance to the Simulator, where they generally trained against Krybots or other enemies, even against each other while morphed occasionally.

A squad of Marines walked out of the Simulator as they entered. The S.P.D. Marines were usually stationed aboard S.P.D. ships, and served as security guards, counter-boarders or even as boarders. They were dressed in the same uniforms as the security detachment onboard the Terra Venture had.

A small detachment of ninety seven Marines out of a hundred and fifty had survived the orbital battle, and were quickly incorporated as guards around certain areas of the Delta Command Base until they were picked up by the next time a fleet was sent.

Marines operated in small groups of ten, and the highest ranking officer among the surviving Marines was the Lieutenant in front of Kat.

"Lieutenant. How's the head?" Kat asked as she walked in with Bridge in tow. The Lieutenant, as with many other survivors, had been wounded in the escape from the doomed _Indomitable_. Kat had treated the Lieutenant for a head wound that was luckily non-fatal.

"Fine Ma'am. It's healing quite nicely," he answered, before noticing Bridge at Kat's side, looking rather intimidated by the large man in front of him and offered Bridge a hand. "Lieutenant Murphy, 'A' Company, stationed onboard, or rather, was stationed onboard the _Indomitable_."

Bridge tentatively shook the hand. "Br-Bridge Carson, Blue Ranger," he said.

"Well, nice to meet you Bridge, and good to see you again ma'am. We'd better go now- I suppose you two would want to use the Simulator?"

"Yes. Thank you," said Kat as the Lieutenant led his squad of Marines out and deeper into the Delta Base, leaving Bridge and Kat alone in the Simulator.

"So, Kat, what do you want me to do?" asked Bridge, turning to face Kat.

"I thought a good way to test out the upgrade would be a little…sparring," Kat said with a sly grin, as she pulled out her morpher.

"Uhh…spar?" Bridge asked warily, pulling out his own morpher.

"Yeah. How about the rooftop simulation?"

Even as Kat said it, the white walls of the simulator melted away to show that the two were on top of a building, the cityscape sprawled out around them.

"You ready Bridge?" asked Kat. Bridge nodded, and Kat grinned. "First one to pin the other down wins, okay?"

"Alright Kat," said Bridge, as he pulled his morpher up at the same time Kat did.

"S.P.D. Emergency!" they both shouted, and within seconds, their respective suits had formed up around them.

Not wanting to go head-to-head with Kat, who Bridge knew was substantially faster and more agile than nearly everyone in B-Squad, Bridge pressed a second button on his morpher.

"S.P.D. S.W.A.T.!" he called, and the black S.W.A.T. equipment formed around him, as did his Delta Enforcer. He quickly locked in his morpher with its slot on the vest.

Kat just watched him, and Bridge remembered that she said this was to test out an upgrade. _What upgrade_, he wondered. Bridge got his answer a second later.

"S.P.D. S.W.A.T.!" Kat called out as well, and the same black, armoured vest formed around Kat's suit, taking her chest armour's place. The communications gear also appeared on her helmet, along with leg armour, and Delta Enforcer.

"Uh oh," Bridge muttered. Now Kat was on the same level as him, and with her superior agility, Kat admittedly had Bridge on the ropes.

"Ready to rumble, Bridge?" Kat asked slyly, before locking her morpher into the vest and unleashing a storm of laser fire from her Enforcer.

"Whoa!" Bridge shouted as he dove away, and rolled to a kneeling position, Delta Enforcer raised and firing. The blasts did little as Kat jumped away, and fired back.

Bridge cursed the lack of available cover, and was forced to rely upon agility to get away from Kat's shots. He grunted as several shots hit him on the chest and sent him onto the ground. _Now I know how they feel when they get shot by a Delta Enforcer_, Bridge thought as he rolled on his stomach sideways to dodge another shot.

From his position, Bridge fired another shot at Kat, who unsurprisingly dodged the shots. Bridge followed up with another volley, which caught Kat by surprise as she dodged into the next volley.

Kat was sent reeling from the shots, which gave Bridge enough time to leap up and try to close the distance between him and Kat, who had recovered by now and was already taking aim again and unleashing a torrent of lasers.

Bridge jumped, ducked and rolled, but never stopped running as he got closer. "Nice try Bridge," Kat said before lashing out with a kick as Bridge ran towards her. He was going to fast to stop, and ran right into the attack, which propelled him back and sent him rolling as he stopped.

"Ouch," he groaned. Luckily for him, rather than staying at a distance, Kat moved in closer. He would have preferred trading kicks and punches with Kat rather than stay away and get blasted, but only just barely.

Kat viewed Bridge as she walked closer. "Come on Bridge, is that all you got? Boom could be doing a better job testing out the new upgrade right now," Kat said as a way of provoking him.

Bridge leapt up, and went for a kick, which Kat avoided by throwing herself backwards, and then ran up and punched Bridge, who rolled to the right just in time to get a good shot at Kat's side.

The blast sent Kat back, and Bridge stood up as Kat got up. "Nice work," Kat said, before leaping in with another kick. Bridge grabbed at her foot and managed to grab hold. Before he could do anything however, Kat threw her body weight around, and the sudden change of direction forced Bridge to go with her. Kat's spin threw Bridge to the ground, and Kat landed on her feet with ease.

Bridge tried to fire at Kat again, but she jumped, and the attack missed. However, as she landed, Bridge swept Kat off her feet, and sent her crashing to the ground. Kat rolled as a laser seared the simulated ground where she was a moment ago. From her position, Kat fired at Bridge, who was unprepared for the attack.

The shot sent Bridge spiralling to the ground next to Kat, who got up before Bridge hit the ground. "That hurt Kat," Bridge said as he got up, and readied for another attack.

"Well, get ready for a lot more," Kat replied as she raised her Delta Enforcer. Bridge, who had saw the motion and had expected her to shoot was already rolling away, but instead was greeted with the sight of Kat running up and delivering a powerful blow to his helmet.

The punch rocked Bridge, and he staggered back, which saved him from Kat's second punch. He counter-attacked, and his fist grazed Kat's arm as she leapt away a second too late. Bridge followed up with another punch which Kat evaded, and a kick which she didn't.

Kat hissed in anger as the kick sent her stumbling back, but Kat regained control of her wilder side. Kat launched into a complex series of attacks, incorporating some of the fighting styles that were native to her homeworld.

Bridge blocked as many attacks as he could. He caught one punch from Kat, and twisted, but Kat flipped, and he let go before her motion again carried him along with it. The second Kat landed, she again went on the offensive, slowly forcing Bridge back. He did his best to block with his arms and legs, occasionally ducking, but while he had psychic senses, most of which were dulled when he was morphed, psychic senses simply weren't reflexes, compared to Kat whose razor-sharp reflexes were simply too fast at times for him.

After he had ducked a shot from Kat's Delta Enforcer at near point-blank range, and blocked a swipe from Kat's elbow by raising his own elbow parallel to hers, he saw an opening. He willed his leg to move as fast as it could, and he kicked up…and knocked Kat's Delta Enforcer from her hands, sending it skidding away on the concrete.

He smiled under his helmet, and pointed his own Delta Enforcer at Kat, who didn't move.

"Nice kick there, Bridge," Kat said.

He shrugged. "So, are you ready to give in yet?" Bridge asked.

"Just because I'm not armed doesn't mean I'm harmless; far from it," Kat said, before leaping straight up. "Cat Stunners!"

_Shit_, cursed Bridge as he rolled away from the multiple impact zones from the energy flakes/feathers. He had forgotten all about her trademark move in the excitement.

Kat, rather than running for her Delta Enforcer, ran up instead and aimed a kick at Bridge, who brought his own Delta Enforcer up to block the kick. Kat, rather than kicking Bridge, ended up kicking away Bridge's Delta Enforcer which skidded to the edge of the small arena.

"Now who's at a disadvantage?" Kat asked.

"Ummm…maybe me?" Bridge said, before throwing himself forward and tackling Kat to the ground. The two wrestled for control, and Bridge ended up on top.

"You give up yet Kat?" he asked, getting up.

Kat shook her head, and wrapped both her legs around Bridge, and then flipped, once again carrying Bridge with her. He landed on the ground, and Kat pounced upon him, pinning him down again.

"Do _you_ give up?" Kat asked.

"Not yet," said Bridge, before tucking his legs in, and lashing out with a kick. Kat was sent flying back, and Bridge leapt on top of her, and gained control. Remembering last time, Bridge straddled Kat, and pinned her arms down. He was just barely stronger, and Kat eventually gave up struggling.

"O.K., Bridge, you win," conceded Kat. "Now, would you be as kind as to get off?"

Bridge got up, and held out a hand to Kat, who accepted it.

"Power down," Kat said, and the suit, along with the S.W.A.T. enhancements disappeared. Bridge followed, and soon both of them were standing in the blank Simulator, the generated landscape disappearing around them.

"Well, I think that proved that the upgrades worked," Kat said.

Bridge nodded. "They definitely do," he said.

Before they could walk out, both of their morphers beeped. Kat frowned, and grabbed it. "Kat, what's the problem?"

"Kat, I think we've got another Troobian offensive coming. Energy signatures just appeared out of nowhere," came Sky's voice.

"We'll be right there. You'd better inform Syd. Bridge is with me, but Syd went somewhere," Kat said.

"Will do. Get to the Command Centre," said Sky before the channel shut off.

"We'd better get going," Kat said to Bridge, who nodded and ran off to the Command Centre with Kat. "And not a word to anyone about you getting on top!" hissed Kat as they left the room. Bridge grinned and nodded, and kept running.

* * *

Syd, who was preparing for a long hour at a nice café, was about to change out of her uniform and into something more casual when her morpher went off.

Syd sighed explosively as she went over to the small dressing table where her morpher lay. Picking it up, Syd opened it.

"What is it?" she grumbled into it.

"Syd, Troobian offensive. Get to the Command Centre," Sky ordered.

"Alright, I'm going, I'm going," Syd sighed, and threw on her S.P.D. jacket, placing the morpher in one of the pockets, and started to run for the Command Centre as well.

Kat and Bridge ran into the Command Centre. Sky stood at the desk, and walked down as soon as they had run in.

"You're in command now," Sky said to Kat. She wasted no time going to the main console, gently nudging another cadet manning the station off and brought up a satellite energy scan of the city and the surrounding area.

"Energy spikes detected four kilometres out from Newtech," Kat reported, showing the scans to Sky and Bridge, before Syd burst in.

"Sorry…I'm…late…" Syd panted.

"Never mind that Syd. Let me bring up the normal view," Kat said as she rapidly typed commands into the monitor.

"Here it is," Kat announced. "Oh…God…" Kat whispered at the sight. Sky and Syd stared numbly at it. Bridge closed his eyes, opened them, and then promptly closed them again. He pinched his arm.

"Oww!" Bridge muttered, rubbing his arm furiously. "Umm, so I'm not dreaming. But do you all see what I see?"

"Yes Bridge. We do," said Syd, still staring transfixed at the screen.

It showed nine enormous Krybots, all pumping their arms up and down in a typical Krybot manner. Leading them was an oversized Bluehead, which marched at the front of the oversized group.

"Get to your Flyers!" Kat ordered. "You'll need the S.W.A.T. Megazord to deal with these Krybots."

Sky, Bridge and Syd nodded. "Ready guys?" prompted Sky.

"Ready!" replied Bridge and Syd.

"S.P.D. Emergency, S.W.A.T. Mode!" they cried out, and their suits, plus S.W.A.T. enhancements appeared.

They ran off, and leapt into the tubes that would take them to the launch bay.

"Flyers 3 and 4 will join you by remote," came Kat's voice over their headset. "As soon as you get outside, form the Megazord. Flyers alone are not going to stop them."

"You got it Kat," said Sky as he entered the cockpit of his Flyer. "All systems have a green light. How about you guys?"

"Same here Sky. Ready to roll," said Bridge.

"I'm ready," reported Syd.

The three Flyers rolled out, passing by a sixth Flyer, and took positions as they launched from the Delta Command Base. The green and the yellow Flyers followed them, and soon, the five Flyers were dancing in the sky.

"Form up guys," Sky said. "We'll fly as close as we can to the Krybots, and then we form the Megazord."

"Roger that," came the simultaneous reply from Bridge and Syd.

The Flyers accelerated to their maximum velocity, and soon came within hundreds of metres of the group of Krybots, before they took up positions, and formed the S.W.A.T. Megazord.

"The Krybots have reached the outskirts of Newtech, Rangers. If they get within striking range of the Delta Command Base, there won't be much that can stop them!"

"Thanks for the heads-up Kat," said Sky, as the S.W.A.T. Megazord flew down, and landed in front of the Krybots. "S.P.D., halt!"

"Fire!" ordered the Bluehead, before it and five Krybots fired their lasers.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord quickly flew up, and the majority of the lasers scattered across the place where it was standing a few moments ago. In the air, the S.W.A.T. Megazord drew its twin blasters, and fired back at the Krybots below.

Red lasers tore into the Krybots, but none fell. "What the!" exclaimed Bridge as they drifted down.

"Looks like they've gotten an upgrade," said Syd.

"Keep firing!" Sky ordered, before the S.W.A.T. Megazord raised the blasters again, and fired.

"Incoming!" shouted Bridge as a laser flew at the Megazord. It sidestepped to the left, and the laser whizzed past where they were a second ago. The S.W.A.T. Megazord ceased firing, and smoke reigned where they had fired.

"Did we get 'em?" asked Syd. The smoke cleared, to show ten Krybots still standing. They had blast marks, and the Bluehead's chest was scorched, but other than that, there was no damage. "Oh come on," muttered Syd.

"Spread out!" ordered the Bluehead, and the Krybots moved, creating a ring around the outnumbered and outgunned S.W.A.T. Megazord.

"Sky, you got any ideas?" asked Bridge, looking at his scans. Not good. They were surrounded, and obviously the Krybots had thicker armour than their normal sized cousins.

One Krybot charged at the S.W.A.T. Megazord, its arm raised. Sky turned the SWAT Megazord around to face the new threat.

"Hang on guys!" Sky shouted, before activating the boosters on the Megazord. It flipped over the Krybot, and Bridge activated the weapons. Twin lasers from its blasters pounded the Krybot. The force from the lasers, plus the Krybot's own momentum caused it to crash to the ground.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord whirled around to face the newer threat; a pair of Krybots hanging back and aiming at them. The S.W.A.T. Megazord flew nearly horizontal towards the pair, avoiding many of the blasts they fired, as well as the blasts from the other Krybots around them.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord stopped in front the two, and used one of the blasters to pistol-whip the Krybot on the right straight on the head. The resulting _crack_ from the butt of the weapon meeting the metallic head of the Krybot resonated throughout the city. The Krybot collapsed in a pile, the force of the impact having caused its CPU to temporary shut down from blunt force trauma.

The other Krybot turned towards the Megazord, less than ten metres away, but was blasted as the Megazord fired both blasters, one from its metal hip and the other raised. The blasts, at such a range sent it down.

"Well, that's one down, for now at least," remarked Bridge.

"Do these Krybots fall under the rule that we aren't allowed to harm offenders too badly?" asked Syd.

"Don't think so," answered Sky. "They're robots."

"Alright!" said Syd, before she brought the Megazord's leg down on the back of the Krybot they had just shot. It struggled to rise, as the S.W.A.T. Megazord swept the area with its twin blasters.

"Where'd they go?" asked Bridge, noticing that their battle had carried them away from the City's outskirts, and deeper into Newtech. There were no Krybots in sight, but there were plenty of large buildings which a Krybot could crouch and hide behind.

"Looks like we have to find them," said Sky. The S.W.A.T. Megazord bent down, and attached a pair of oversized Containment Cuffs on the Krybot and getting off its back, before moving off into a jungle of steel and glass that was Newtech City.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord moved and peered behind a building. There was no trace of any Krybots behind the building, so it moved onwards towards the next cluster of buildings.

"I got a bad feeling about this," said Bridge as they moved the Megazord towards the intersection. He was proven right, as their scanners suddenly beeped a warning.

"Ambush!" cried Sky as a pair of Krybots clumsily leapt out from behind a building, and grabbed hold of the S.W.A.T. Megazords arms.

"Get them off!" shouted Bridge. Normal sized Krybots grabbing the Ranger's arms could be thrown off easily enough, but the Megazord's sheer size and mass dictated its actions. Before anything more could be done to throw off the Krybots, another pair emerged and struck the S.W.A.T. Megazord across the chest with their blades.

The attack threw the Rangers back in their cockpits, and the pair holding the Megazord threw it forward. Syd managed to twist the Megazord so that when it crashed to the ground, it had its back on the ground, and the twin blasters raised and ready.

A storm of lasers hammered the Krybots that had thrown the Megazord. They were thrown off their feet, and crashed to the ground. The S.W.A.T. Megazord then got up, and struck a hammer blow to another Krybot which made a run at it.

"You know guys, I seriously doubt whether this is working," commented Syd as they watched the Krybots they blasted or struck get up again.

"Well, got any better ideas?" asked Sky.

"Fight now, argue later!" shouted Bridge as three Krybots ran up, weapons raised.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord sidestepped one of the Krybot's slashes, raised an arm to block another, and fired the blaster it held on the other hand at full power at the Krybot that was still charging, before swinging the arm at the other Krybot which they sidestepped. The arm smashed across the Krybot's chest, and sent it down in a shower of sparks.

Still locked in combat with a Krybot, the Megazord lifted the arm that was still locked against one of the Krybot's blades, brought its other blaster underneath, and fired. The beam rocked the other Krybot back, and gave the Megazord a small reprieve as the other Krybots, minus the one they had handcuffed, and the one which they had pistol-whipped fell back towards the outskirts.

"We'd better follow them," advised Bridge.

"Kat?" asked Syd. "What should we do?"

In the Command Centre, Kat had been monitoring the battle with concern. The Krybot's armour had been upgraded, and was proving to be a tough nut to crack. Kat replayed some of the battle, and saw that at full power, the S.W.A.T. Megazord's blasters were powerful enough to blast bits of the armour off the Krybot.

"Rangers, you have to destroy those Krybots. They are too dangerous to be allowed to roam around. Your weapons at full power should be enough to cause damage to them," Kat said.

"Alright. We're moving out."

"Be careful Rangers," Kat said.

"We will. Sky out."

Having closed the channel, Sky brought the Megazord's weapons to bear on the two downed Krybots. He fired the weapons at full power, which tore into the Krybots, destroying them.

"Finally," said Bridge. "They were really annoying."

"Can we hurry up with this?" Syd asked. "It's becoming annoying in here, getting knocked back and forth.

"Set the weapons to full power," ordered Sky. The monitor showed the energy bar for the weapons was full. "Be prepared for anything."

The S.W.A.T. Megazord marched off in the direction where the Krybots had rushed off. They had just approached the outskirts when four of the Krybots came out, all lined up.

"Here we go," muttered Bridge, as Sky activated the Megazord's boosters, and flew towards the Krybots, who fired back.

One shot connected with the Megazord, and caused it to crash. However, it had enough momentum to continue forward, and tackle a Krybot down. Both metallic monstrosities crashed to the ground, and the S.W.A.T. Megazord raised a fist and brought it down on the Krybot, as the others took aim and fired.

Lasers scorched the area around the Megazord, but a majority missed as the Megazord laid the smack down on the Krybot, which eventually was disabled after multiple punches.

The Bluehead soon stepped out and aimed its weapon at the Megazord, which was beginning to get up. "Don't you fools know how to aim?" it shouted at its Krybot subordinates, and fired. The blue beams were fired with accuracy, and struck the Megazord, throwing it to the ground.

"That hurt," complained Bridge.

"That isn't the worst of it," said Sky, pointing. The Bluehead was aiming again.

"Boys, move it!" shouted Syd, as she took over the controls for the boosters. She activated them, throwing the Megazord back just in time for the lasers to miss them.

The Megazord fired back while flying, and scored hits on two Krybots, which went down. Stopping its short flight, the Megazord was immediately fell upon by the Bluehead, which ducked under the Megazord's swing. It thrust its arm forward, and struck the Megazord.

The Megazord retaliated with its blasters, and lit the Bluehead up with lasers. It screamed in anger as it was forced back by the shots. The Bluehead ducked behind a building to avoid the next series of blasts.

A pair of Krybots, not put off by the destruction of their fellows, rushed at the S.W.A.T. Megazord, one from the left, the other from the right.

"Uh oh," Bridge muttered.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord looked from left to right at the charging Krybots, before facing the one rushing in front of them.

"No time to discuss this. Bridge, be on the lookout for any more Krybots, and Syd, get the boosters ready," ordered Sky. Sweat ran off the Red Ranger's brow as he tried to control his nerves. This would require him timing to be perfect, and admittedly, a good deal of luck.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord, about to be sandwiched between two Krybots coming in from the side and one from the front, raised both blasters and pointed them at the Krybot in front, and fired. The twin blasts tore through the Krybot, and stopped it before it ran into the S.W.A.T. Megazord.

Not wasting time, Sky snapped the twin blasters up, and pointed them in the direction of both Krybots, and fired twice from each blaster. The Krybots actually continued to run and would have smashed into the Megazord if Syd hadn't fired the boosters, propelling it high into the sky. The two Krybots crashed into each other, and the damage sustained from the blasts as well as the impact was too much, disabling both.

"Well, that's five out of ten down," said Bridge.

"Where are the others?" asked Syd.

As if to answer her question, a Krybot leapt out, and grabbed the S.W.A.T. Megazord around the waist. Three more emerged, and fired at the same time, sending both of the combatants to the ground. They lined up again, and fired once more. The barrage of lasers did heavy damage to the S.W.A.T. Megazord, which fell back and crushed the other Krybot from the combination of its weight and the force of the fall.

"Kat!" Sky shouted. "We could really do with some help here!"

"Right. I'm on my way. Hold on there Rangers," Kat said from her position at the main console in the Command Centre.

Sky was too busy to notice too much of Kat's sentence, as he and Bridge tried to manoeuvre the Megazord away from the blasts. Another Krybot came out from behind, and latched onto the S.W.A.T. Megazord's back.

In the Command Centre, Kat had just whipped out her morpher, and prepared to morph. She had already told C-Squad's leader that he was in command, at least until she was back.

"S.P.D. Emergency, S.W.A.T. Mode!" Kat called out, and her suit, plus S.W.A.T. equipment formed around her. Kat jumped into the tube, and dropped in the cockpit of her own Flyer. Kat smiled and ran her gloved hand over the controls, as the pre-operational checklist was run through. Once it was done, the sleek white and orange Flyer manoeuvred itself so that it blasted out through the launch bay.

Her Flyer had been in construction all those days ago when Cruger had first asked her about her morpher. It had started as a little tinkering that eventually caused her to take the design to Cruger for approval. Constructed in secret, it had been originally designed for Cruger, but the Commander had ordered her to re-purpose it for her own use.

Flying, Kat quickly spotted the site of the battle. The S.W.A.T. Megazord was struggling to dislodge a Krybot from its back, while the others blasted it. Knowing that the Krybots causing the greatest damage were the ones lined up, Kat locked onto them, and warmed up the lasers.

A tone indicated that the laser cannons had a lock, and Kat fired. The laser cannons spat out long red beams that struck the firing squad like Krybots, and hurled them to the ground. Taking careful aim, Kat fired a small burst of lasers at the Krybot on the Megazord's back.

"What the?" asked a dumbfounded Sky as the Krybot they were trying to dislodge was blasted off.

"How many times do I end up bailing you out of these situations?" came Kat's voice.

"Kat?" asked Bridge in amazement.

"Nice ride!" commented Syd as the white and orange Flyer, designated Flyer 7 flew by, and transformed into a Megazord. White and orange, Kat's new Flyer/Megazord held a small resemblance to the Omegamax Megazord's form in that it resembled a riot officer. Twin blaster cannons formed the Megazord's armament.

"When did you get that?" asked Sky.

"Worry about that later. Take care of these guys first," ordered Kat.

"Yes ma'am," replied the B-Squad Rangers, bringing the S.W.A.T. Megazord to its feet. Kat's agile Megazord cart wheeled down the street, and ended up punching one of the Krybot's heads. It then somersaulted over, just as the S.W.A.T. Megazord fired, and raked the Krybots with high-powered lasers. Kat's own Megazord did the same from the behind the Kybots, and the power of the lasers overwhelmed armour, and caused most of the Krybots to fall.

"Where's the Bluehead?" asked Kat.

"Here!" it shouted as it emerged from behind a building, and fired at Kat's Megazord. It was thrown to the ground, as the S.W.A.T. Megazord laid down a hail of laser fire.

"Kat! You alright?" asked Bridge as Kat's Megazord got up.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Neither of you will be after this!" the Bluehead shouted, firing again. The lasers were aimed at the S.W.A.T. Megazord, which jumped away, firing both blasters as fast as it could.

Kat's Megazord took advantage of the distraction to move in closer to the Bluehead. It went for punch, which the Bluehead grabbed. Before it could throw the Megazord back, the SWAT Megazord scored hits on the Bluehead's back.

It dropped the fist, and Kat brought her Megazord's elbow into the Bluehead's head. It spun to the ground, flattening a small building in the process.

"Hope no one was in there," Syd said.

"No one really should be here anyway," Sky said.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord went in for a kick, which the Bluehead ducked, and ran into Kat's lasers. The blasts sent it spiralling to the ground.

"Don't they ever give up?" asked Bridge as the Bluehead got up again.

"We just have to teach them again," replied Sky. The S.W.A.T. Megazord flew in, and roundhouse kicked the Bluehead into the sky. Kat's Megazord blasted it as it came down, and moments before crashing to the ground, Kat brought her Megazord's arm across the falling Bluehead's chest.

Once again, it staggered up, though all of them could tell it was nowhere near as effective as it was before.

"I shall destroy you all!" it shouted, before the combined blasts from the S.W.A.T. and Kat's Megazord brought it down to its knees.

"You're not going anywhere," said Sky, before transforming the S.W.A.T. Megazord into the S.W.A.T. Cannon. Kat's Megazord grabbed hold of the massive cannon, and aimed it at the Bluehead. Power flowed into the cannon, a combination from the S.W.A.T.'s own power source and some of the power from Kat's as well.

"Nighty night!" said Syd as the trigger was pulled.

A massive blast of energy surged out from the S.W.A.T. Cannon, and enveloped the Bluehead. When the cloud of smoke and bits of metal had cleared, the two Megazord's stood side by side.

"Well, that was harrowing," commented Bridge.

"Let's get back to the Base. I'll debrief you all later," Kat said.

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

Jake cracked his neck while sitting in a chair at his desk.

The disruption field generator Kat had given him lay next to a pile of sheets. He had been working on trying to crack the secret of the device whenever he could, but the answers had kept eluding him, at least, it had been until just a few hours ago.

On the verge of breaking through, he had spent hours at the computer, and something told him he had to rest. He took a deep breath, and turned the program he was using off. Checking his E-Mail account, he was surprised that he had gotten a message from Kat.

Opening it and reading it thoroughly, he sighed. Kat had asked him about his progress on the device, and had some rather disturbing news about Therntia. Groaning, he typed back a response, shut the computer down and headed for bed.

* * *

In the Rec Room, Sky and Syd sat together. Bridge had already gone off to bed, calling it a day, leaving Sky and Syd.

"So, what do you think of Kat?" asked Syd.

"She's a good commander, that's for sure," answered Sky.

"I meant as a Ranger, Sky," Syd corrected.

"Well, I think that honestly, it's good news to hear that she has the same upgrades as us. We're down two Rangers, and we'll need the extra firepower."

"Do you still blame yourself?" asked Syd.

"Huh?"

"For Z's capture."

"A little," Sky admitted.

"It wasn't your fault. How many times do we have to say that, Sky?"

"I know, but who else is there to blame?"

"The Troobians are to blame Sky," said Syd. "Me and Kat are to blame."

"I can't place the blame on you or Kat, Syd. That definitely wasn't your fault," Sky said.

"Just because you're the Red Ranger Sky, doesn't mean that you have to shoulder all the blame for everything that goes wrong," Syd said.

"I know that Syd. It makes me feel slightly better, that's all."

"Well, don't let it get to you. You're fighting has gone down slightly ever since then," Syd said, before getting up. "I'm off."

"Night Syd, thanks for the advice," Sky said.

"No problem Sky. See ya tomorrow."

* * *

In the hidden _Chimera_, Malignticous sat at his throne. He was deep in thought. Time was running short, he knew that. Space Patrol Delta here would have to be dealt with before they were reinforced with another fleet.

He had to mount an offensive.

Soon.

* * *

A.N: Here it is guys. We're getting close to the endgame now.

Okay, now, first of all, this chapter was everything and nothing like I expected. I've found writing the last parts of the oversized Krybots hard, so I apologise if it is not up to my standard. I did enjoy writing the earlier parts of this chapter though, and I hoped you enjoyed it. As for those wondering about Kat getting S.W.A.T. Mode, I had a choice of that or inventing an entirely new weapon for her, which I didn't feel like. Besides, S.W.A.T. mode would work perfectly for her given the fact that I wrote the she was in the military for who knows how long.

For those who haven't seen Lost Galaxy (I've only seen the first couple of it), the S.P.D. Marine's uniforms are pretty much the same as the uniforms the soldiers in Starship Troopers wear, and vice versa.

Well, it's the 24th of December, Christmas Eve here in Australia, and probably should be in most of the other time zones, I hope (I'm not good at working out time zones) so, here's your Christmas present from me to you (some reviews would make my Christmas morning, as would some Bridge/Kat stories…) so enjoy!

Merry Christmas to all of you people, and a Happy New Year if I don't get a new chapter up by then which I may not.

Merry Christmas!


	9. Endgame

Power Rangers SPD: Aftershock

A.N: Second to last chapter. Not sure what else to say, except for whatever I have to say at the bottom, so I'll see you there…

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything related to them, and so on and so forth (Yeah, call me lazy. I just use the same thing over and over and over again. Not that you really read this, right?)

* * *

Malignticous sat at his throne, glaring at the blinking displays and screens. He had more than one problem to take care of now, apart from the destruction of S.P.D. - Therntia.

The scientist/weapons creator had been rather helpful in the beginning. Now, he was proving to be just like the late Choustos, with ineffective weaponry, and was quickly becoming a proverbial thorn in his side. And then came the problem of Therntia's reasoning to join him; to exact revenge, on one particular person. Malignticous didn't know who he or she was, but didn't give it a great deal of thought, as all members of S.P.D. were equally annoying or identical to the next.

He had seen Therntia's reaction when he had told Therntia that one of the Rangers that they had captured would do fine for him. Near instant rebellion, and that was never tolerated by Malignticous. Rebellion against his rules was on par with betrayal or turning traitor. Therntia had to know his position in the chain.

Revenge was a great motivator- for many things, including rebellion and betrayal. Revenge could inspire Therntia to work for him. Revenge could also inspire Therntia to work _against_ him. He might want revenge against that person, but if the person was denied to him, he would want revenge against the person who had denied Therntia him/her in the first place, namely himself.

Malignticous knew the easiest way out of this rather small problem was to simply grant Therntia his wish of having that person to exact revenge against. It was the simplest solution, short of outright killing Therntia. But, as annoying as he was, Therntia's services was still required, at least for the moment.

But Malignticous had no desire to give Therntia his wish. In Malignticous' mind, Therntia hadn't worked hard enough, hadn't achieved enough for Malignticous to grant him his wish. Plus, it would make him seem weak if he suddenly bowed down and granted Therntia's wish after he had implied that he wasn't going to grant Therntia's desire for revenge. And that would never do.

Then came another problem. Close to two weeks of waging a constant guerrilla war against S.P.D. had drastically reduced the number of forces he had under his control. Constant clashes against S.P.D. had cut down the number of real soldiers, not the expendable Krybots down to three monsters. And even then, those three were the novices, the newbies, the fresh meat for the grinder. Malignticous had no doubt that although they would provide serious competition against an average S.P.D. cadet or officer, even all three together couldn't put a serious dent in the Ranger's ranks.

One on one, they would lose to a single Ranger. Even with two of the Rangers out of the way, there was still four left to contend with. And that would prove serious, especially considering the state of his 'army'. It was too pitiful to be even considered an army.

Growling, he leaned forward and tapped a button on one of the various screens across the control and display board arrayed before him. A screen flashed, and showed a number.

426.

That was the full number of all combat ready and available soldiers, Krybot or organic. The Krybot construction facilities had been taken offline close to two days ago, when it became apparent that the materials required for Krybot construction were running out, and it was becoming more and more difficult to acquire the necessary materials. The facilities were then consuming the limited power they had, and without it producing anything, it was turned off to conserve power for other things.

Malignticous, growing tired of staring at the number, switched the display to show the wire frame of the Chimera, along with the sections damaged highlighted in either orange or red, depending of the severity of the damage.

The left hand side of the screen displayed a column, which cycled through the extensive damage reports on the Chimera's various systems. The reactor, which although working, could barely provide enough power to keep the disruption and cloaking fields on, to power the various operating systems such as the hangar doors. The laser batteries were essentially useless, as most were simply slagged metal and fried circuitry. And worst of all, virtually all the engines were destroyed. The main thrusters had been wiped out, and their atmospheric descent had done significant damage to the vertical boosters.

Malignticous clenched his fist in anger as the display went through the inventory check for the Chimera. Three giant combat robots left, absolutely no fighters, no tanks and the like. The only thing left in the hangar bay were thirty transports, which could hold ten Krybots in their troop bay.

Guerrilla warfare right now was a joke. S.P.D. would simply defeat every attempt, and it would simply be a tremendous waste of time and resources. He had to re-implement his own ideas, which currently consisted of a massive, all-out assault on Newtech. It was the only way. He would not fail.

_

* * *

It ends today…it ends today…it…ends…today!_

Bridge woke up with a startled yelp, and leapt out of bed. His eyes swept back and forth, scanning every corner of the room, every nook and every darkened corner. His breathing was rapid, and had someone saw him, it would appear that the psychic Blue Ranger was hyperventilating.

His breathing slowing down, Bridge also started to calm down. He stopped glancing at every little inconspicuous object, and stopped staring into the darkened corners of the room. Looking around, he saw Sky still sleeping; Bridge's panicking fit not awakening the soundly asleep Red Ranger.

Breathing deeply and more regularly, the Blue Ranger settled back into his bed, trying to forget the experience. Bridge looked at the clock, and then at Sky. The Red Ranger stirred for a moment, and turned onto his side. The clock itself showed that it was early in the morning.

Trying to fall asleep again, Bridge found that he couldn't, and resorted to counting mental sheep, in an attempt to lull sleep back. It wouldn't, or couldn't come.

Frustrated, Bridge decided to take a walk. Throwing on his uniform as quietly as he could, he headed out of his room, and walked in the spotless halls of the Delta Command Base.

Minutes later, Bridge ran into a cadet, who had duty shift near the Command Centre.

"Uh, morning sir," the cadet said hesitantly.

"Morning," said Bridge. "You know what; you can go back to your room cadet…Parker. I'll take the rest of your shift."

"Uh, thank you sir," said Parker, before almost running for his room. Being caught in the halls patrolling by Bridge certainly wasn't what cadet Parker had known would happen. Rumours in the Base spread like wildfires, and they generally involved the higher ranks. Bridge had been rumoured to be anything from an alien trapped in a human body, to do weird things and many other such rumours. None of it bothered the Blue Ranger any though- talk was just talk.

Walking through the hallways and corridors, Bridge found it more relaxing and peaceful than lying on his bed. He had been on this patrol route many times before, and pretty much had it memorised. The only reason why patrol shifts were hated was that they often cut into one's sleep. Right now, Bridge had no problem with that.

He walked through the corridors that ran the length of this particular section of the Delta Base. The patrol route went around two of the more important features of the Base- the Command Centre, where orders were given, and Kat's lab, the source for the many upgrades and improvements to Earth's S.P.D. division.

Walking past the Command Centre, Bridge was surprised when the doors silently hissed open. Normally, the doors were always locked in the morning. Bride, with his curiosity spiked, couldn't help a peek in, curious to see what the Command Centre looked like in the early hours of the morning.

Inside, most of the computer terminals and consoles were dimmed. However, Kat was moving from one console to another, stopping at the consoles to tap a few buttons, after which the screens started to light up, and hummed to life. Kat never seemed to wear a uniform, yet always seemed to be dressed appropriately. She wore the white coat that she seemed to prefer, and a black pants. Bridge took notice of the fact that the scientist had most likely just or recently woken up. Her hair already was the wild tangle that it always was, though it was still glossy, evidence of a recent shower.

"Morning Bridge," Kat called out, her back still facing him.

"Uh, morning Kat," answered Bridge.

"What are you doing up at four in the morning?" Kat asked, still focused on the computer in front of her.

"Would you laugh if I said a nightmare?" Bridge said.

Kat looked at him. "Anything out of the ordinary?" she asked, concern starting to find its way onto her face.

Bridge shrugged. "Depends, 'cos I had this nightmare, or dream maybe, but nothing out of the ordinary happened, just a voice that kept saying 'it ends today'."

"Well, if you have anymore of these dreams, you'd better come to see Felix or me," Kat said, turning back to her work.

"Fair enough. Why are you up so early?"

"This time of the morning is quite normal for me Bridge. And who else is supposed to prepare the entire base for the day?" answered Kat.

"Doesn't the Commander do that?" Bridge asked in return.

"Not really. The Commander prepares the day's work and orders, not the basic running of the Base," Kat answered, moving to the next station. "And last time I saw it, you weren't scheduled for duty until tomorrow."

"Well, after the nightmare, I tried to sleep. Then, when I couldn't, I tried counting sheep to try to fall asleep again, but that didn't work so well. So, I went out of the room, I walked around a lot, and then ended up running into Cadet Parker. I then told him that I would take his shift, because I couldn't sleep, and I felt really awake, and then I wandered some more, and ended up here talking to you," Bridge finally finished.

Kat nodded her head somewhat absently. "You could have just skipped to the end Bridge. That was all that I wanted to know, rather than the full length version," Kat said.

"Umm, sorry about that. How did you know it was me who first stepped in here anyway?" Bridge asked.

"I have known you for how many years Bridge? Just over half a decade, I believe. Half a decade is more than enough time for me to determine your scent from Sky's, or Syd's. And I did hear the door open, Bridge," Kat answered.

"Oh."

"Is there anything else you would want to know?"

"Uh, I think that's all I have," Bridge said, scratching his head.

"You have a patrol to do Bridge. Better get on it," Kat advised. "You can finish your shift earlier- just about 0700 hours."

"Thanks Kat."

With that, Bridge walked out of the Command Centre, and into the halls. The doors slid shut after him, just as quiet as they opened. Kat, left alone, continued to activate the Delta Base's various systems, before moving to the main console.

Turning it on, Kat logged in, facing typical security passwords. Kat never really expected to find anything within her mail, but there was the possibility of a few dozen transfer offers from other branches of S.P.D. off-Earth.

Finally getting through numerous and time-consuming security 'checkpoints', Kat was rather surprised to see a message for her from Jake. Skimming through revealed the gist of it to Kat- he had just about cracked the generator's secrets, but needed some more time to appropriately work out a solution for it. Kat made a mental note to visit him sometime today.

Logging out, Kat sat down at the Commander's desk, which was temporarily hers. Eyeing the stack of pads on the desk, she sighed, and reluctantly pulled them over, and started to finalise orders, deployments and other various requests. Among other things, Kat knew she had to give B-Squad some time off to alleviate the stress that had been put on them. Rest was fine, but they needed something to get their minds off the war- at least for the moment.

Kat decided on it. After their morning duties, and after she had finished speaking with Jake, she would give them an hour or so outside the Delta Base for relaxation. With that settled, Kat eased back on the chair, tapping a stylus on her bottom lip, looking over an increasing daunting aspect of being in command, no matter how temporarily. The sun continued to rise and shine even brighter, as Kat finished off the orders.

Glancing at her watch, Kat noted that three hours had passed, and the first of the cadets taking duty shifts in the Command Centre started to trickle in, murmuring greetings to her as they walked in. She pushed the last of the pads into a finished pile, and dropped the stylus on the desk. Going by their schedule, Kat knew that B-Squad was most likely eating breakfast by now.

It seemed the best place and time to tell them about their time off, and to hand over command to Sky while she was gone. And besides, Kat really could do with something to eat as well.

* * *

Bridge had woken up close to three hours before, and had patrolled for nearly the entirety of the time he had been awake. And now, Sky and Syd were seeing the results of it.

The Blue Ranger was not eating with his usual enthusiasm. Rather, he ate and chewed slowly, dark circles starting to make themselves apparent underneath Bridge's eyes. He also avoided looking at either of them, and had refused to answer their questions. It was beginning to unnerve Sky.

But it was Syd who broke the uncomfortable silence first. "Bridge! Just tell us what's wrong!" she exclaimed.

"It was nothing Syd, I swear!" Bridge protested.

"Don't make me order you to tell us," Sky said. He puffed out his chest. "I'm Red Ranger, remember? The head honcho, the big cheese, Mr. Big?"

Sky using some of the terms for leader which Boom had used caused a small smile to light up on Bridge's face, and the once gloomy atmosphere between the three became considerably brighter.

"Just a bad dream," Bridge said, the smile starting to disappear.

"And?" prompted Sky.

"It's nothing. Just a bad dream, I woke up, and went for a walk. I'm just a little tired, and need some relaxation," said Bridge with a forced smile.

"Really? All you had to do was ask."

Bridge, Syd and Sky glanced up to see it was Kat who had interrupted their 'interrogation'.

"Kat! Uh, I mean, morning Kat," said Syd.

"Mind if I join you?" Kat asked.

All three simultaneously shook their heads, and Kat seated herself next to Syd.

"What did you mean by what you said earlier?" asked Sky.

"You've been fighting for too long, all of you. You need to get away from it for a little while, to clear your mind, and in general, relax," Kat said.

"Really? Awesome!" said Bridge, cheering up immensely.

"Right, thanks Kat!" said Syd.

"That is, after your morning duties," said Kat, with a rarely seen twinkle in her eyes as Syd and Bridge deflated almost instantly. "And Sky, I'll need you to take command when I leave. I'll take over when I'm back."

Sky nodded as Kat got up and left. Syd changed the talk from Bridge's current state to what they were going to do as a group later after their morning duties.

* * *

Two hours later, Kat was once again standing outside the house of her old friend and one-time lover. Pressing the chime, and hearing the simple tune reverberate throughout the household, she waited until the door opened, and was greeted with the sight of an average looking woman.

The blonde haired woman was a bit shorter than Kat, but still looked the feline up and down, taking note of the badge that was pinned to the left of Kat's collarbone.

"May I help you?" questioned the woman.

"Dr. Katherine Manx, S.P.D.," said Kat, showing her I.D. on her morpher before putting it away. "I need to speak with Jake. S.P.D. business."

The woman frowned, and turned to face the interior of the home. Before she could say anything, Jake appeared at her elbow.

"No need to call me, I'm right here. Hi Kat, come in," said Jake, before he and the woman stepped aside, allowing Kat passage through. "Kat, this is Rachel. I'll need a few minutes to talk to her."

"Sure, take all the time you need." Though Kat knew that the time they had was limited, it definitely seemed like the right thing to say.

Jake steered Rachel into the kitchen, and spoke to her in a low voice. Kat did her best to tune out the conversation out of politeness. Sensitive ears were advantageous at times, yet overbearing at other times. This was one of the more overbearing times.

Kat waited until Jake came out, with Rachel in tow. He embraced his current girlfriend before stepping away. Rachel shook hands, if somewhat stiffly, with Kat before stepping out the door, waving a goodbye to Jake.

"Back to work?" Kat asked.

"Huh? You or her?" Jake said, confusion evident.

"I meant Rachel."

"Yeah, she's gone off to work. Luckily, or rather unluckily, it's nearby so I'll be losing a couple of hundred dollars tonight," Jake joked.

"I'm sure you will. Can we get started now? I can't stay here too long, and my second-in-command definitely needs a break," Kat said.

"Sure, sure."

With that, the pair settled down in Jake's workroom, where the generator was held.

* * *

Half an hour later, Jake had thrown down the flag, and Kat was close to doing the same. Despite having a break-through the night before, there was another level entirely to the generator.

"I give up!"

"Temporarily," added Kat, who leaned back on the chair so that it was balanced on its back legs. "We have to get through this thing."

"What's the rush?"

"It's classified, sorry."

"I don't think we can crack this through coding, Katherine," said Jake, ignoring Kat's pointed look over the use of her full name. "Perhaps we have to create a device to counter the effects of the generator, which I do not have the resources for."

"We could devise a program that can infect the generator," Kat mused.

"If they have a large-scale version, how do you get a virus into the generator?"

"We did capture an EMP bomb. Maybe we can use it," she muttered, before sighing. "Too much work, too little time."

"How 'bout we take a break? It always works, take a break, clear your head and then come back," said Jake.

"Fine by me."

The two got out of their chairs and walked out of the room. Jake ended up leading Kat to the kitchen, where he promptly got out two glasses.

"You want a drink?" he asked.

"It'll be appreciated," Kat answered. "Water would do fine."

Jake set down the two glasses, and seated himself opposite to Kat. "You wanna talk about something?"

"About what?"

"Anything." He shrugged.

"How much did Therntia really hate me after the Academy?"

"What?" he asked, surprised.

"Did Therntia really hate me that much after? Or was it just jealousy?" Kat repeated.

Jake frowned as he tried to remember. "You're better off asking Mooney those questions. After all, Mooney was closer to Therntia than I was, especially considering that I took your side. And what was he jealous of?"

"Mooney?" Kat said, laughing. "I'd be better off asking our professors if Therntia hated me. Mooney wasn't very good at picking up other people's feelings anyway. As for the jealousy, I think he was either jealous of you or me."

"Really? When did you learn that?"

"When I met him again, in that incident I described to you."

"Did he say he was jealous?"

"No, but he did say that I 'stole his heart' as he put it," Kat answered.

"That's definitely Therntia. He liked to put things that way. I think it was an attempt to woo the ladies," Jake said with a smirk. "In fact, he started doing that not long after we indoctrinated you into our little group."

"So what was he like before I came in?" Kat asked.

"I suppose he was just like any other person at the Academy. Hard working, dedicated, all those sorts of qualities you need to get through the Academy."

"Did he have any sort of a guilt complex? I'm not sure if I saw one in him during the time we spent together without fighting," Kat said.

"He…he was a complex guy," Jake said after a moment. "One minute, he's sulking around, being a typical tough guy, the next, he's with someone, laughing like a good friend. He always had reasons for doing something. Rarely did he do something without backing it up with good reasons."

"I see…" said Kat. "Though you didn't answer my question."

"I think he did have a guilt complex of some kind. He believed in doing whatever was necessary to complete his goals, but not in hurting anyone more than necessary."

"That somewhat explains it then," said Kat.

"Explains what?"

"Why he looked guilty when a Bluehead tossed a small bomb towards me and the Pink Ranger. It did plenty of damage, but he looked guilty rather than triumphant. But still, why does he look guilty for harming someone from the other side?"

Jake sighed. "Let me tell you something Kat. I'm not sure if you picked it up, maybe because you two fought a lot, but Therntia always had hidden agendas. Not all of them were harmful agendas," he quickly added seeing Kat's look, "but they always aimed at getting something."

"Like?" Kat asked sceptically.

"You remember the time when Mooney's experiment went wrong? Well, Therntia apparently sabotaged it deliberately. It got you out of a tight spot."

Kat frowned. "Was that the time when some of you introduced me to alcohol?"

"Yeah. When we finally loosened you up a bit. Before that incident, you were so damned cold to everyone. Then, you got drunk and for once forgot to do your work."

"Why did I let you guys convince me that it was what I needed?" Kat sighed.

"You know what they say: curiosity killed the cat," Jake laughed. "And you were our friend. We just needed to see the other side of you."

"Well, you did see that other side. That was a one time only offer," Kat said. "I wonder how Mooney put up with Therntia afterwards when Therntia sabotaged the experiment."

"Pfft, all Therntia had to do afterwards was to tell him that by getting into trouble, he pulled you out of it."

"That easy, huh?"

"Yeah. Real easy."

A silence followed as Kat and Jake wallowed in their own thoughts, until Jake broke the silence.

"Rachel, she's engaged," he said suddenly, snapping Kat out of her thoughts.

"To you?" Kat asked.

"Name someone else who she's going out with right now then," Jake replied.

"Oh, well, congratulations," she answered. "Was that why she was so hostile to me before?"

"She's just kinda looking out for me. Doesn't like the thought of you threatening me or that kind of stuff. Sorry about that before as well."

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Another silence until Kat got up.

"I better go now Jake. Sky doesn't want to be in command for too long, especially since I told them they would get the afternoon off," said Kat.

"Sure thing Kat. I'll work on the generator as long as I can. Come back tomorrow, maybe I'll have something done by then."

"I'll try," said Kat before leaving with a simple handshake.

* * *

In one of the many barren holding cells of the _Chimera_, Z watched as a pair of Krybots, hauling the Shadow Ranger between them, opened the cell door and threw Cruger in.

Cruger landed stomach first, and didn't move. The two Krybots closed the door and walked away without caring. They couldn't care. It was beyond their programming and processors.

Z, still morphed, ran to Cruger.

"Sir, are you alright?" she asked, rolling him over.

Cruger just groaned in response. "I've been better, Z. All of this will be better when we get out of here."

"I second that," Z replied. "What did they do to you?"

"Just normal Troobian procedure when it comes down to prisoners: beat them around for amusement, not for information," Cruger answered. "Luckily, they don't know how to deactivate our morphers, so I fared better than normal if I didn't have it."

"When do you think they'll find us?" Z asked. "I hate being stuck in this suit for days on end."

"Patience Z. Just wait. The others are trying their best, but moaning about here won't help."

"I'll try sir," Z said with a sigh.

They had been stuck in the prison cell aboard the _Chimera_ for over three days now, and it was a miracle that Z had gone insane through a lack of activity yet. Three times, they had dragged Cruger out and beaten him around, laughing with amusement as they did so. It was the remaining soldiers that did the beaten, not the Krybots. Krybots didn't take pleasure from such acts. They couldn't take pleasure in anything.

Twice a day, a Krybot came around with just barely enough food and water for the two of them. Z had questioned Cruger about it, who had answered that Malignticous probably only fed them to keep them alive, at least for the time being. Then, after they had no more use to either him or any of his men, they would just be simply vaporised. It was a prospect that Z didn't like.

Z leaned against the wall of the cell. Unlike the one they had been subjected to on Grumm's Terror Warship, the cell had three walls enclosing them, and one open space that was lined with bars.

While Z couldn't see them, Cruger had assured her that energy dampeners lined the wall, keeping her from using her genetic ability. How, she didn't know.

A sound- more specifically, a low rumbling, caught her attention.

"Sir, what was that?" she asked.

"What was what?" said Cruger.

"That sound. It's like, a low rumbling."

Cruger frowned, and listened closer. He had been so distracted that he hadn't noticed it. Through his helmet, his ears did hear it. It wasn't so much the rumbling- that was more felt through the floor than heard, but the sounds of engines warming up. That alarmed him. Engines starting up were loud, that much was true, but even he shouldn't be able to hear the sound of a single engine starting up.

If he did hear it, that meant two things. One was that the engine was really powerful, such as the engines mounted on a warship. That wasn't a possibility, as engines so powerful would have shaken up the deck a lot more. The other possibility was that it was a smaller engine- such as the ones mounted on dropships, but a great deal more of them. Neither of those were particularly pleasing options. The entire ship moving could mean that Malignticous would escape, and would definitely bring a much larger fleet back to Earth. The dropships meant that a large invasion force.

"I heard it Z."

"What do you think it is?"

"Given the options, I would say an invasion force launched with dropships," Cruger said.

"Then they're in for a fight, aren't they?" Z asked sadly.

"We just have to hope they can pull through," answered Cruger.

* * *

On a different level of the _Chimera_, Malignticous stormed through the doorway into the laboratory where Therntia worked and resided. Entering, Malignticous saw that the entire area was messy, with bits of everything laying around. Choustos still remained in the corner, and the smell was starting to bother Therntia, who had complained about it to Malignticous. The Emperor had refused to remove the body. If Therntia didn't do what he was supposed to do right, then Malignticous wouldn't oblige him anything; not that he really ever did, anyway.

"Therntia!" bellowed Malignticous. The scientist popped out from behind one of the numerous work benches and desks scattered throughout the room. Malignticous noted that the scientist/weapons creator had been increasingly lethargic ever since he had ventured with a group of Krybots to the Newtech Laboratories. In the beginning, Therntia had been quite promising, until lately. Another concern that Malignticous had was that Therntia had taken to wearing lighter clothing. Like his attitude, Therntia had worn darker clothing, like his trench coat. Now, Therntia was dressed in a white shirt, a far cry from the black trench coat he had worn, which was now draped over a table.

"What is it, Emperor?" Therntia very nearly spat. Had it been any other time, Malignticous would have thrown him across the room. But it wasn't time for that- he had other concerns to deal with.

"What is the operational status of our weapons?" he asked. Therntia had been working on the Chimera's laser batteries- at Malignticous' orders of course.

"We only have one laser battery working, and even then, it can only fire about five shots before the improvised focusing lenses melt from the heat of the shots," he said, not looking at Malignticous.

"Is that all?" Malignticous demanded.

"Yes. Also, firing the lasers would render S.P.D. capable of detecting us."

"I thought you said that they wouldn't be able to detect us through your disruption fields!" roared Malignticous.

"The lasers generate a very high concentration of radiation that can even penetrate the disruption field. Not that it matters. Firing all five shots will drain the last of the power from the reactor, power that is used to operate the disruption and cloaking fields," said Therntia.

"It'll have to do. We are launching one last attack on S.P.D., and it'll use up the majority of our remaining resources. Either this attack works, and we destroy S.P.D., or it fails and we will be captured," said Malignticous. "And as for the one working on getting past the disruption fields: order a Krybot to kill him."

"As you wish," said Therntia.

Malignticous whirled about before he exited. "These will be the last hours of your life with us, Therntia. Use them wisely," warned Malignticous, before leaving, filling the halls with maniacal laughter.

Malignticous headed for the launch bay of the _Chimera_. It had housed thirty dropships, all of which were now en route towards Newtech city. Each one of those ships carried ten Krybots, which had caused Malignticous to devote three-quarters of his remaining forces in a final effort to destroy S.P.D.

Close to two hundred and ninety seven Krybots of varying types such as the common normal Krybots to the more powerful Blueheads had been sent, along with his final three soldiers, and in addition, the last three giant combat robots.

He watched as the ships, now a dark cloud on the bright and sunny horizon slowly start to disappear. The three giant robots had already been sent, their distant footfalls shaking the ground. This was their final chance. For all of them.

* * *

In Newtech's downtown, the damage was sparse. Most of the fights had taken place near the industrial section of Newtech City, leaving the downtown section free of most damage. The occasional raid on the Plaza and the damage done to the Mall was about the height of the damage.

So it was no surprise that Syd had dragged her team mates down here to grab lunch. Kat had come back from whatever she was doing, and had given the B-Squad the afternoon off, despite her saying an hour during breakfast.

"Syd, I didn't imagine that when Kat said we had the afternoon off, we would be spending the afternoon simply looking for a place to eat," said Sky.

"Can't we just sit down somewhere? Like anywhere with chicken?" questioned Bridge. He received strange looks from Sky and Syd. "What?"

"Chicken?" asked Sky, arching an eyebrow.

"Toast only gets a person so far, sometimes," Bridge argued.

Syd said nothing, and continued to stare at the endless rows of stores and cafés. "Ooh, how about that one?" Syd asked.

"Umm…what's wrong with that one?" asked Bridge.

"Why do you ask that?" said Syd.

"Because that's the only one where you actually asked us for our opinion," replied Sky.

"Well, no one said that I was in charge, so you guys have to agree with my choice as well."

"Now we're talking," said Sky.

"How about Chinese?" Bridge asked.

"Eww, Bridge, people have Chinese for takeout," responded Syd.

"It can still make a good lunch!"

"Can we just pick a place already?" Sky said, annoyance being to creep into his voice. "Bridge, Syd, just agree on one thing, and we'll be done."

"Fine. That one!" they both same time, pointing to different places. They exchanged a confused glance, before breaking into laughter. Sky just groaned.

"How about I choose?" he suggested.

Syd screwed up her face. "No offence Sky, but you always end up choosing the not-so-nice places."

"Can we just eat?" moaned Bridge, getting tired of arguing.

"Alright, alright. Syd, just take us to a nice place, fine?" Sky said.

"Yep. Follow me guys," said Syd before almost skipping away.

"We have to follow her, otherwise we'll get lost here," joked Bridge.

"Sure Bridge, whatever you say."

Despite all problems, all three of them eventually found a place where they could finally sit down and eat. All three were still dressed in their S.P.D. uniforms.

For Sky, it was no surprise, Bridge because he had been told they were going at the last minute, and Syd because she couldn't decide on what to wear.

"This isn't such a bad place," commented Bridge as he looked around.

"Imagine how much nicer it would be if everyone was here," sighed Syd.

"It would be nice to actually do something and not worry about Z or Cruger," said Sky.

"Hey come on, you heard what Kat said. She and her friend had almost cracked the generator. We'll be seeing them on the satellite viewer before you know it," said Bridge.

"Why don't you pitch in a little and help Bridge?" asked Syd.

"Syd, we're talking about two Science Academy graduates here. I just got through high school biology," Bridge said.

"And?" prompted Sky.

"Well, I wanted to go to the Academy, but just after I graduated, I wanted to join S.P.D. instead. I thought it would be more of a challenge than to sit in rooms and listen to lectures, though meeting Kat there would have been cool."

"Bridge, there's no way you would have met Kat at the Academy. Kat was already working at S.P.D. before we got out of school," Sky said.

"Hey, I'm just saying it would have been cool."

"Sure Bridge, whatever you say," answered Syd.

"Why do people always say that to me?"

"Because it's the easiest way to answer something from you without getting a massive response back from you," said Sky.

"Hey, I resent that!" said Bridge.

Syd's laugh would have carried down the street, had the world not suddenly exploded around them.

* * *

Trouble was the first thing on Kat's mind when the Base was suddenly rocked from…something. Kat managed to stay on her feet as others in the corridor were knocked down. Kat sprinted for the Command Centre as alarm klaxons started blaring. Very little could shake the enormous Base like that, and when that happened, it meant that something big was going on.

"Report!" Kat shouted as she walked into the Command Centre, which was full of chaos.

"Radar contacts, three kilometres out!"

"It's not one of ours!"

"Jesus, there's hundreds of them!"

"We've got something incoming!"

"High energy levels detected!"

Kat pushed one cadet away from the main console, and brought everything up. First thing that caught her attention was the large mass on the radar system. A more accurate scan showed that thirty dots were inbound towards Newtech.

"Bring Satellite Seven online!" Kat ordered as she opened a communications channel with the Rangers.

"Satellite Seven in online ma'am!" shouted another cadet. "Bringing it up on the main monitor!"

An overhead view of Newtech appeared, which began to clarify as the imagers on the satellite cleaned up the quality and began to transmit a live video feed.

"What. Is. That," asked one cadet.

"Those, you mean," corrected another.

The ships were bulky and angular, and had more resemblance to a box than an air capable vehicle. The dead giveaway was the colouring- a sickly yellow with a hint of green mixed in.

"We've got Troobian transports inbound," said Kat. "Troobian invasion force! Sound the evacuation alarms through Newtech, now!"

The cadets all rushed towards their stations.

"Kat?" Sky's voice came over. The channel was filled with static, but Kat would rather be able to talk to Sky over static rather than not to be able to communicate at all.

"Yes, I'm here."

"What's going on?" Bridge had asked the question.

"What just happened?" Syd asked.

"No time at all Rangers. We've got a Troobian invasion inbound to Newtech. Their ETA is," Kat paused and looked over at the screen, "five minutes!"

"What do we do?"

"Go S.W.A.T., and hurry up. I'm sending you the Flyers. I'm linking Flyers 3 and 4 under your command, Sky. They won't be able to fight, but they'll form the Megazord. I'm authorising use of lethal force guys. Bring those transports down. I'll be here for backup, but it looks as if I'll be leading our troops down here instead."

Hesitation came over, then finally Sky responded. "Yes ma'am."

Kat briefly heard Sky say 'Ready guys?' before the channel closed. That was one thing taken care of. The Rangers had their orders, now, she had to give them to the rest of the personnel.

"Attention all personnel. We have an Alert Status Five! Full invasion of Newtech City. All cadets, officers and Marines, report to the Command Centre. All non-essential personnel are to evacuate. Any personnel capable of fighting, report to the Command Centre, if you wish."

Kat quickly accessed another portion of the main control console, as the cadets around her began to finish their duties. She accessed the Base's security systems, and opened the locks on the armouries.

The armouries were an interesting, so to speak, addition to the Delta Base added not long ago, only after Grumm's capture. The idea, which Cruger had brought up with her was that in case of an invasion, S.P.D. cadets and officers were normally not equipped well enough to fight off such forces. As such, the two of them had gone to some lengths to add a total of four armouries across the Delta Base, each one loaded with laser rifles. Unfortunately, very few cadets or even officers had the training necessary to use such weapons, and Cruger hadn't had the time to implement a change the training program. But the Marines were familiar with usage of such weapons.

"Marines, armouries on Level 1,3, 5 and 7 have been opened. Help yourselves gentlemen."

Kat sighed and looked around her. Most of the cadets were still at their consoles. "Lock down all systems, now!" she ordered.

All of them scurried away to finish their duties. Kat tapped a few final keys, sent the S.W.A.T. Flyers out and inputted her security codes to lock down the main console. It was now virtually inoperable. Kat took her morpher out of her pocket, and walked over to where the Commander's desk was. She stood in front of it, waiting, as the cadets and officers began to file in.

"Kat!" Sky's voice said, over her morpher.

"What is it?" she asked.

"You've definitely got trouble. The transports, they ignored everything we've thrown at them and are headed straight for the Delta Base, except a few, they're landing around the city. I think they're trying to swarm you."

"Thanks for the heads up. Be careful, and good luck."

"You too." The channel closed, and Kat did the same with her morpher.

As they entered, Kat wondered why of all times, a full assault by Malignticous had to come now, when they were down two Rangers. Still, Kat was grateful that at least ninety seven Marines were at the Base. The Marines began to enter, their blue-grey combat amour and helmets distinguishable from the sea of white and blue. Many of the Marines held rifles from the armouries, and were looking around.

Kat heard voices in the corridors above the low murmur of conversation in the Command Centre, and saw Lt. Murphy walk in behind a file of jogging Marines, a laser rifle held in one hand, and his helmet tucked under his arm. He looked up to see Kat gesture at him to come up to where she was.

"Commander," he greeted as he walked up.

"Lieutenant."

Kat saw that despite his physical stature, the Lieutenant's short cropped hair held a few strands of grey.

"Are all of your men here?" Kat asked as she surveyed the scene in front of her. People had stopped arriving now, and Kat was waiting for a final few. She waved Boom, who despite having little experience fighting had stayed, up. The technician looked confused, but walked up.

"Yeah. Rounded them all up. That's why it took me so long," Murphy answered as Boom walked up.

"Boom, do you really want to stay here?" Kat asked, concern in her voice.

"Sure. I'll do what I can to help," Boom said.

"Thanks Boom. It means a lot to us," Kat said. Some part of her didn't want to send her friend out there.

Kat stepped up and cleared her throat. All noise in the room died instantly, as if someone had thrown a switch.

"Thank you all for being here. We are facing grave circumstances. A Troobian invasion force is headed for Newtech City, and they'll be arriving in about three minutes. It is our duty to stop them. If we fail, then we have failed Earth. The Rangers are doing their best to stop the transports, but the sheer number of them indicates that a majority will make it through. They're trying to land in front of the Base- all this indicates that they'll simply attempt to overwhelm our defences. It'll take a great deal to overcome this, but it is our duty."

Kat looked around at the confident, the scared and the neutral faces arrayed about in front of her. "Are there any questions?"

None came. Everyone was silent. There was no conflict about what they were going to do, and Kat was proud of them all.

"Lieutenant? Do you have anything to add?" Kat asked.

"Nothing that you've already said, ma'am."

"Very well then. S.P.D. Emergency, S.W.A.T. Mode!"

A second later, an S.W.A.T.-outfitted Kat Ranger stood in front of a mass. Lieutenant Murphy just looked at her, nodding his approval.

"Let's get out there Marines!" he shouted.

"Cadets, officers, battle stations!" Kat added, as the mass began to file out, headed outside and began to form a defensive ring.

Murphy sighed, and placed his helmet on his head. He slapped it once, and strapped it on firmly, before cradling his laser rifle.

"Well, let's go and set an example, shall we Commander?"

"You want to take the front or the back?" Kat asked, locking her morpher into place and running out, the Marine Lieutenant keeping up with her.

"We'll both take the front entrance. It'll be harder to defend, and besides, I've got a sergeant at the rear. He can handle the things there."

The front entrance was the harder place to defend. After all, it was a large parking lot, and with minimal cover. The rear entrance had the grounds before it, and with all the trees around, it was relatively easier to defend.

Reaching the lobby, Kat's ears could hear the approaching transports. Looking around, the S.W.A.T. upgrades picked out the position of where the cadets, officers and Marines had taken cover behind barricades, barriers and S.P.D. patrol jeeps.

"Here they come," shouted one Marine into the headset built into each of their helmets.

"Contact! Transport, three o'clock!"

"Those transports are everywhere!"

"Hold your fire! That's an order!" said Murphy. "Marines, lock and load! Time to earn your pay!"

Kat let out a breath as the transports slowly approached the ground. She instinctively moved to the very front of the hastily set-up barricades, and kneeled behind it. Her presence seemed to give the cadets that were hiding behind it some confidence.

In a scene eerily similar to the last battle they had fought with Grumm, the first ship touched down, and Krybots stormed out, led by a Bluehead. A storm of laser fire greeted them, easily cutting down the exposed group. Another ship landed, and disgorged its contents, as did another and another. Soon, the entire air was filled with orange and blue lasers as the two sides exchanged lasers for lasers, and inevitable consequence of war, people started to fall, as Krybots rushed at the S.P.D. defenders, showing little care to their losses.

Soon, Krybots had leapt over the first of the barricades, and the cadets and officers were engaged in an even more ferocious battle. Kat was battling three Krybots, who had jumped over, and had already shot a fourth that had tried to follow. She jumped over the Krybot's sweeps, and kicked it even as she landed. The second she landed, Kat swept the second off its feet, and turned to see the third level its weapon at her, before it was blasted by a cadet.

Kat nodded thanks, and started firing again. She noticed that the Marines had pulled back to the barricades further away, taking advantage of their rifle's longer range in comparison to the normal pistols. But the Marines lacked the skills necessary in hand to hand combat, where the laser pistols were much easier to use.

Kat twirled around in a single motion, and avoided the two laser bolts that had been aimed for her. She fired back, and knocked two Krybots off their feet, even as another Bluehead leapt at her.

Kat moved out of the way for the Bluehead to land behind her. It was shot by a pair of Marines, but remained standing. She kicked away the Bluehead's swing, and lashed out with another at the stumbling Bluehead. It collapsed.

She surveyed the area. Many, if not most of the cadets and officers were engaged in hand to hand combat as the Krybots continued to pour through. Marines fired at the ones that weren't too close to any cadets, stopping some, but more continued to get through, firing back at the Marines.

"Pull back!" Kat shouted as she kicked a Krybot whilst it was still jumping, and blasting another. "This barricade's overrun!"

Even as the cadets who weren't engaged in fighting ran back to the second line of barricades, Kat did her best to help out the ones still having trouble. She ran in, and yanked a Krybot away from a cadet, and threw it down. The cadet ran for the second line of defence, and she herself started to move back, having helped out the ones that really needed help.

As they fired, and repeated the same actions as before, Kat realised how dire things were. Krybots and Krybot parts littered the ground around and in front of the first barricade, but there was no end in the constant waves of Krybots. They only had another barricade left, and then, they would be forced into the Delta Command Base.

* * *

"S.P.D. Emergency, S.W.A.T. Mode!"

In seconds, Sky, Bridge and Syd were morphed, and equipped with S.W.A.T. armour. The explosion had hit the ground thirty metres away from them. They were lucky- they were just outside the blast radius, and had only suffered a few bruises and scratches.

"Come on!" Shouted Sky. The S.W.A.T. Flyers descended to a more manageable level, hovering just enough for them to get in, secure their harnesses and takeoff.

"Alright, Bridge, Syd, form up. You heard Kat. We've gotta stop those transports."

"Yes sir!" they both replied, and in unison, all three zoomed off. The transports were reaching the city's outskirts. However, none were slowing down- only continuing.

"Bridge, where do you think they're going?" Syd asked.

"Where else would you land an invasion in Newtech?" Bridge responded.

"The Delta Base!"

"Take 'em out!" Sky barked as their Flyers reached the group.

Frantic chaos reigned as they weaved in and out of the transports headings. The transports bulldozed right through the Ranger's Flyers without concern for their safety.

Sky weaved his Flyer past a pair of transports, and sharply jerked it to the right to avoid another. He whipped his Flyer around, and a tone emitted from the displays as the laser cannons achieved a lock. He hammered on the trigger, and sent a stream of red lasers at the transport. It wasn't designed for fancy manoeuvres- only the thick armour protected it, but the lasers punched through the armour, and ruptured power lines and other vital circuitry.

The transport, one of many, fell out of control and spiralled down towards Newtech City. Before it hit the ground, far above, a spark lit the fuel lines, and it erupted in a fireball. That's _one down, twenty nine more to go_, Sky thought.

Looking around the clogged sky, he saw the blue and pink Flyers weaving in between transports, firing lasers. Three more transports exploded into flames, their remains crashing onto the streets below.

Flying behind another transport, Sky was still in the process of locking onto the transport when the rear compartment doors of the transport opened up, revealing several Krybots. The Krybots fired the own lasers back at the Flyer, forcing Sky to start dodging as lasers flew over, under and right by him. The Flyer shuddered as it took a blast- luckily the Flyers were well armoured, and the weapons used by Krybots weren't strong enough to blast through in a few hits.

Not satisfied with simply shooting at him, the Krybots, with their Bluehead, leapt out of the open bay. Sky was busy lining up and locking onto the transport, so as a consequence, he was flying relatively slowly, as not to overshoot the transport.

Which made jumping onto his Flyer all the easier.

"Oh no, what did I do to deserve this?" Sky groaned as the Krybots flew straight at his Flyer. He quickly accelerated, and ended up smashing into a pair of Krybots, sending them flying back into the transport. The pair must have hit something, because seconds later, the transport started to lose altitude, and ended up crashing to the ground.

A few Krybots missed the jump, and ended up falling towards their doom, several hundred metres below them. However, the Bluehead and three normal Krybots managed to latch onto his Flyer, and made their way to the cockpit, not bothering to open hatches.

"Sky!" Bridge shouted over their communications, diving between transports and firing lasers. "You've got Krybots moving towards the cockpit!"

"Thanks for stating the obvious, Bridge! Just get 'em off!"

"How?" Syd chimed in, also currently engaged in a vicious game of hide and seek, dodging between falling transport debris and other transports, firing whenever she got a clear shot.

"We can't exactly shoot them off, Sky. That'll probably blow you away as well," Bridge said.

"Do something!" Sky yelled. The sensors were showing the Krybots were crawling their way closer.

"Shake them off!" Syd shouted.

"How?"

"Do something fancy!" Bridge also shouted, blowing another transport out of the sky.

"Here goes nothing," Sky muttered, and sharply brought his Flyer into a loop de loop. The sudden manoeuvre brought Sky some respite. Two of the Krybots had been shaken off, leaving only another one, and a Bluehead.

Sky went through a series of barrel rolls, loops and sudden turns, losing the other Krybot, but the Bluehead stubbornly persisted.

"Guys, I can't get the Bluehead off my Flyer. Some help, please?" asked Sky, forgetting about the Bluehead momentarily as he blasted another transport. He and the others had shot down eleven transports, but there were still plenty left- and the very first were going to arrive within minutes at the Delta Base. "Kat!" he shouted.

"What is it?" came her voice.

"You've definitely got trouble. The transports, they ignored everything we've thrown at them and are headed straight for the Delta Base, except a few, they're landing around the city. I think they're trying to swarm you," he reported.

"Thanks for the heads up. Be careful, and good luck."

"You too." He closed the channel, and focused on the Bluehead still clinging on. "Come on, get off already!"

His wish was granted when a pair of laser blasts hit the Flyer. The blasts rocked him in his seat, and vaporised the Bluehead.

"Bridge!" he shouted. "Next time, make sure you aim better!"

"What?" came the confused reply. "I didn't do anything!"

"Then what just shot me?"

"Them!" Syd shouted.

Sky looked at the area where the blasts had come from, and saw three giant robots.

"Why do these things always happen to us?" he moaned as another laser from the robots missed him, and vaporised a transport.

"Don't know, don't ask. Let's form the Megazord," said Bridge.

"I'm with you on that one!" replied Syd as she narrowly avoided another laser blast.

Flyers 3 and 4 descended from the clouds above, and joined their compatriots. The group flew towards the three giant robots at the outskirts of the city. Flying in formation, they formed the S.W.A.T. Megazord, which descended and met the three giant robots in combat.

"Let's get 'em!" Sky shouted, before the S.W.A.T. Megazord raised and fired its blasters.

The energy blasts rocked all three robots, and sent them down.

"Heh. They weren't as tough as the Krybots before," said Bridge.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord was knocked off its feet when all three robots fired at it at the same time.

"But they pack a lot more firepower!" Syd commented.

"Get up so we can do it again," chuckled one Bluehead from the cockpit of one of the robots.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord did get up- using its boosters, it flew straight up, and then came down on the left most robot with its elbow. The robot crashed down, and was pinned under the weight of the S.W.A.T. Megazord. From its position, the S.W.A.T. Megazord fired on the middle robot.

Lasers scorched armour as the robot was sent reeling back from the intensity of the blasts. It fired at the S.W.A.T. Megazord as it stepped back, most of which missed as the S.W.A.T. Megazord flew towards it. The Megazord ended up tackling the robot in the middle, and rolled of it and into a crouch, both blasters raised and aimed at the last robot still standing. The robot was lit up by a storm of laser fire that caused it to fall.

"Now for the others," said Sky, just as the robot they had tackled suddenly reached up and grabbed the Megazord's leg.

"What the?" said Bridge. "Get it off!"

The robot refused to budge, or to relinquish its grip on the Megazord. Holding it down, the first robot came up and brought its weapon down in a slashing motion across the S.W.A.T. Megazord's chest. Being held, the Megazord couldn't fall back, so it swung its fist at the robot that had attacked them. The fist knocked it back, in time for the other one to come up behind and grab the Megazord's arms as well.

"Well, we're in a tight spot, aren't we?" remarked Syd, as she fought for control of the Megazord's leg.

"Got any ideas? Those robots could keep their grip and the other can simply swing at us all day," said Bridge.

"Bridge, Syd, quiet. I got an idea," Sky said.

"Does that involve us sitting here while they keep attacking us?" asked Syd.

"Yeah, because I don't really like that plan," said Bridge.

"Just wait," Sky said as the free robot moved closer. "Almost…"

"Sky, when you're ready," nervously said Bridge, eyeing the robot coming closer.

Just before it swung, Sky activated the boosters, and diverted all the power available to them. The entire Megazord rumbled as the boosters strained themselves to lift a Megazord and a giant robot. As the Megazord rose up, the swing from the robot connected with the one holding their leg. It let go, and the Megazord flew up, with another robot still clinging on.

The Megazord moved its elbow forward, and brought it back into the stomach region of the robot behind them. The impact shook the robot off, and Sky cut the boosters, allowing the Megazord to glide down to the robot still standing. The Megazord kicked the robot twice before it landed, and then followed up with a series of punches. Before it could react again, the S.W.A.T. Megazord flipped around the robot, and kicked it towards its companions, sending all three to the ground.

"Woo hoo!" shouted Bridge.

"We got them good!" said Syd.

"Focus guys. They're getting up again."

"Here comes round two," said Syd.

One of the robots stumbled up, and faced the S.W.A.T. Megazord. Panels on its chest opened, revealing a group of missile pods.

A warning tone beeped on Bridge's console. "Uh, guys? Something's got a lock on us…"

A second later, the pods fired a swarm of missiles at the S.W.A.T. Megazord.

"Evasive manoeuvres!" shouted Sky as the Megazord rocketed up to avoid the missiles.

The missiles, locked onto the heat signature of the Megazord, flew past where they were standing before, and angled their approach so that they ended up chasing the Megazord across the sky.

"No more running!" announced Syd, who brought the Megazord around so that it faced the missiles.

The Megazord fired its blasters, and destroyed a third of the incoming missiles before Sky sent it flying away again. The remaining missiles continued to chase the Megazord, which was now also hounded by laser fire from below.

"I got an idea! Hold on!" Bridge said, before sending the Megazord into a sharp dive directly at the cluster of robots.

At the last moment, before they would crash into the robots, Bridge cut the power to the boosters, and the Megazord rolled into the robot's midst, and out the other side. The missiles, still chasing the Megazord ended up smashing into the robots.

The explosions tore into the armour of the missile launching robot, and breached the reactor. The robot exploded into a fireball. Pieces of it continued to rain around them as the missiles hit the two left. There weren't enough missiles remaining to do much more than to knock one down, and blow pieces of armour off the other.

Sky let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. "Nice work Bridge. Maybe it actually payed off listening to you."

"Let's just finish off these creeps," said Syd.

"With you there," said Bridge.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord raised its weapons, and prepared to fire another round of lasers at the two damaged robots. Before it could do so, another laser bolt smashed into the ground mere metres away from the S.W.A.T. Megazord. The blast hurled the Megazord away, sending into the ground.

"What was that?" coughed Bridge as he shook his head.

"Don't…ask…me," said Sky.

"Looked like a laser blast," Syd panted.

"Don't worry about that. Worry about those guys!" said Sky.

The robots had moved closer, and were preparing to blast the S.W.A.T. Megazord. As soon as they fired, the damaged Megazord blasted off at the robots. The blasts missed, and the Megazord stopped in front of the pair, both blasters raised. It fired once, twice, three times, before following up with a strike from its elbow. The blow sent one of the robots back, and before the other could realign itself so that its weapons were facing the Megazord, it received an uppercut from the Megazord into its chest.

"How're the systems?" Sky asked. The battle had taken something out of them all.

"Amour is down to 24 percent, energy levels are optimal and weapons are fully functioning. The boosters are slightly damaged and are starting to overheat," Syd reported.

"We can still fight," Bridge said cracking his neck to the side, and flexing his fingers before taking the controls once more.

"We have to," Sky responded as the robots got up again.

* * *

Kat's world now consisted of two things: lasers, and Krybots. Kat fired her Delta Enforcer at a group of Krybots, sending their shattered bodies back down in return for a pair of Cadets falling to the Krybots at close range. Beside her were two Marines, each still firing away.

Kat moved in front of the barricade- it was the last one before they would be pushed back into the Delta Command Base, and the Krybots showed little to no sign of stopping.

Krybots were reaching the barricade. Kat ducked a laser bolt, rolled to avoid another and blasted one more when her motion had finished. She was quickly fallen upon by another group of Krybots, who had jumped into something they wouldn't come out of in one piece. Kat punched one, delivered a strike across the chests of two Krybots, sending them down in a shower of sparks, and kicked another back. It hit a piece of loose rubble, tripped and was rolled under by the next group of Krybots.

A Bluehead targeted her, and fired. The bolt missed by a hair, and Kat fired back. A pair of Blueheads then ran at her, while she was concentrating on something else. They fired in unison, which only served to alert Kat to their presence. She kicked one back, but was struck by the other. Before she could even finish recovering, the pair struck her in unison, sending her armoured form flying back. Kat tried to shake off the disorientation from the small flight, and felt a pair of hands haul her up to her feet.

She looked up to see it was Boom who had pulled her up. "Kat! Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine Boom," Kat said, before leaping back into the fray. Seconds later, after she had destroyed a pair of Blueheads and a small group of Krybots, Kat was grabbed by two of the monsters, and thrown back at Boom's feet.

"Thanks Boom," Kat said after he had hauled her up again.

"Kat!" shouted another familiar voice.

Kat looked around, until she saw Jack Landors fighting his way through the Krybots. "Jack!" she exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, you didn't think I would just stand by while S.P.D. is being destroyed?" he said, taking a fighting stance next to Kat. "Nice outfit by the way."

"Well, what about Ally?" Kat asked. "Shouldn't you be with her?"

"She's safe. Which is more than I can say for you guys," Jack said as Kat blasted another Krybot.

"You know that you shouldn't be here," Kat said, dodging a laser blast and putting one in a Bluehead's chest.

"Well, S.P.D. made a change in my life. If I had a choice, I would rather fight with you than watch you get destroyed."

A cadet was hit in the chest from a laser, and landed in front of them. Kat and Jack instantly knelt down to see to him.

"He's gone," Kat said sadly, closing the cadet's eyes.

Jack picked up the blaster pistol the fallen cadet was using, and fired at the Krybots that were still coming. A group made their way towards the ex-Ranger and the Kat Ranger. Jack saw them, but it was too late to fire at them. Instead, he kicked one down, and swiped his pistol across the chest of another. He phased past the swing of another Krybot, and kicked it once he had passed through it. He fell to the ground, just in time to avoid the pair of blades that swung over him, and swept the Krybots off their feet.

Kat was fighting off three Krybots, and a single roundhouse kick sent two of them flying back. The other one grabbed her foot, but it lost its grip when Kat did a backflip, breaking free of its grip and kicking it with her other foot. As she landed, a Krybot tried to blast her, but was shot by Jack before it could do so.

"Thanks Jack."

"Any time," he responded, once again taking aim.

He was busy firing at another group of Krybots, taking careful aim to ensure that most of the lasers hit. He smiled, gladdened to know that his reputation as a crack shot had not left him, despite not having used a weapon for many weeks. Shooting, neither he nor Kat noticed a Bluehead creep around them. A Marine saw it, but was blasted before he could shout any kind of warning.

Therefore, when Jack heard Kat's cry of pain, he was facing the wrong way. He whipped around to see her slumped at the feet of a Bluehead. It fired at him, but Jack flung himself to the side. He rose, just to see Kat kick the Bluehead from where she was on the ground. As it flew up, both Kat and Jack blasted it. Its remains fell back to earth as Boom ran over again, and checked Kat.

"I'm fine Boom," she stubbornly insisted.

"You're really lucky Kat. If you were unmorphed, the blow could have killed you," Boom said, concern for his friend and mentor obvious.

Kat stood up, and viewed the barricade. Krybot parts littered the area, but that was a common feature for all the barricades they had set up. Marines, cadets and officers were still fighting, but they were being pushed away from the barricades.

"Everyone! Pull back to the interior of the Delta Command Base," Kat shouted, feeling the area where the Bluehead had brought its elbow down on and wincing, even though it wasn't visible through her helmet. "Boom, go already!"

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Boom asked.

"Boom, don't worry about me," Kat impatiently said. "Just go!"

She turned to Jack as Boom ran for the interior of the Base, just like everyone else could. Lt. Murphy was at the entrance, waving people in and firing from his rifle occasionally.

"No Kat, I'll stay until everyone else gets in," Jack said, predicting what she was going to say. "And 'sides, you'll probably need the help getting these people into the Base."

Kat sighed. "Alright, come on then Jack. We've got work to do."

The two of them raised their weapons, and began to blast the Krybots that were still fighting the various cadets, officers and Marines around. Jack was forced to aim carefully- one missed shot could result in hitting the wrong person. Kat was also forced to aim carefully, though the inbuilt targeting and sensory equipment that the S.W.A.T. upgrades gave her made it easier.

When it became obvious that shooting at Krybots wasn't going to do quite nearly as much as jumping into the fray, Kat and jack shared a glance, before running into the battle. Jack reached a cadet struggling against a Krybot, and grabbed the Krybot before pulling it away from the cadet.

"Go! Get into the Base!" he shouted as he blasted the Krybot he had thrown down.

The cadet needed no more encouragement as he ran for the Base, where a couple of Marines were converged, tasked with defending the entrance, at least until everyone who could be saved were saved.

Kat was busy keeping the latest Krybots at bay. Being a Ranger, and with S.W.A.T. equipment, Kat was protected a great deal better than most officers, cadets or Marines. Kat was soon battling a large group of Krybots, which was allowing for a trapped pair of cadets to quickly run for the Delta Command Base.

Before long, Kat was thrown out of the group of Krybots, the sheer number having overwhelmed her. She landed near Jack, who stopped blasting Krybots momentarily to help Kat up.

"That happens to you a lot," he commented as Kat blasted another Krybot.

"Never mind that, that's everyone. Get into the Base!" Kat said, shoving Jack in the direction.

Abandoning any attempt at covering each other, Kat and Jack ran towards the Delta Base's main entrance amidst explosions as lasers narrowly missed them. Lt. Murphy was waiting for them, waving at them. A pair of Marines was kneeling down, firing from their rifles at the Krybots behind the pair. Stopping in front of him, Jack managed a 'thanks' to the Lieutenant, who waved him in.

"What's the situation Lieutenant?" Kat asked, temporarily adding the firepower of her Delta Enforcer to the three laser rifles going off. Their combined firepower was enough to knock close to seven Krybots and two Blueheads off their feet, destroying them in the process.

"Just about everyone is already in there, setting up," Murphy said. "Same thing on the other side, except they aren't getting hit as hard. They've still got room, and are doing fine, for now at least."

"Then we better get in, Lieutenant," Kat said, firing her Delta Enforcer again. Strangely, the three monsters that had been attacking with the Krybots were nowhere to be seen.

"Yes ma'am. Alright Marines, get in there!" Murphy ordered, shoving the pair of Marines back into the Base.

Within moments of getting in, a pair of transports landed, straight in front of the entrance, Krybots pouring out. A new storm of laser fire met them, and was returned by the original attackers as they made their way to the massive glass doors. Marines were placed onto the second level, serving as sharpshooters.

Ten minutes later, the plan had virtually fallen apart. Kat, Lt. Murphy, Jack, Boom and a few other Marines were being forced back by constant groups of Krybots. There were other defenders, but they were all scattered throughout the Base, as they had been routed from the lobby.

Kat was at the rear of the group, her weapons and armour protecting her from the worst of the fire as they made their way to wherever they could go. Kat's ears heard the clacking of metallic feet on the tiling, and saw a group of Krybots round the corner, metres away from her.

She hissed in anger, and sprang at the Krybots. She landed in front of the first one, and with a hiss, struck it down, and rolled into the group. She blasted two from where she was, before springing back up to avoid the blasts that were aimed at her. Spinning around, Kat knocked three more down, and kicked a Krybot as it tried to kick her. She knocked it off balance, and with a few Cat Stunners wiped out the others.

"Keep going!" she yelled. They didn't hesitate, and later, they found themselves at the Command Centre.

Kat ran to the main control console, and tapping her headset, she soon reached Sky.

"Sky, how're things going on your end?" she asked.

"Kat, we need some assistance here. We've got a pair of giant robots attacking us, and some lasers have damaged our Megazord!"

"Look Sky, things are hectic around here too. We've got a Troobian invasion force inside the Base, and most of us are scattered. I can send you my Flyer, though one of you will have to control it. It's probably a bit more agile than what you are used to though."

"I take it," Syd chimed in. "After all, my Flyer is more agile than either of Sky's or Bridge's."

"Okay Syd. It's on its way, and Rangers, we're going to need your help soon," Kat said.

"We'll do our best Kat. Thanks for the Flyer!"

"Hurry Rangers."

With the channel closed, Kat quickly reactivated the main console, sending out her own Flyer. It received the command, and was blazing its way out of the Delta Base.

Jack and Boom were working at a few consoles, rapidly typing in commands. The doors to the Command Centre slid shut, and the locking mechanisms locked the door.

"Okay," Jack said, letting out a deep breath. "We've got a few minutes before we've got Krybots busting down on our asses. What do we do?"

"First of all, I'm locking down the Delta Base. We can't afford to have anymore Krybots coming in," Kat said. "Boom, I need you to activate the security systems. Maybe we can see what's happening outside the Command Centre."

* * *

While that was happening, Syd removed the harness that kept her safely within her seat. Minutes after removing it, Syd was outside the S.W.A.T. Megazord, while it tried to combat a pair of giant robots. It punched one, and had struck it again when the other one brought both of its clawed hands down onto the S.W.A.T. Megazord. Sky and Bridge were rocked from the impact. Outside, Syd could see the outline of a massive warship embedded into the desert. Now she knew where the lasers had come from.

"Kat's Flyer had better get here soon," Bridge said.

"There it is!" Syd shouted into the headset. "I'm going in."

Inside the cockpit, Syd pulled down the harness, and quickly secured the Flyer under her control.

"Nice," she commented.

She flew the Flyer around to get a feel for it, before diving at the two giant robots, which were landing hit after hit on the S.W.A.T. Megazord in tandem, forcing it back. It had gotten a few hits in, but against the combined assault, it wouldn't last much longer. Syd received the lock on tone, and fired the laser cannons. Bright red bolts hammered the two robots, and opened up an opportunity for Sky and Bridge, who moved the Megazord in, and hammered a fist against the one wielding the sword. It went down as Bridge slammed the Megazord's arm against the other one.

"Megazord time," said Syd, before pressing a button. Convenient of Kat to make the transformations virtually automatic. Just a press of a button, and the entry of her code, and there Syd was, sitting inside the cockpit of Kat's Megazord.

"About time Syd," said Bridge.

"You were doing pretty fine just then," Syd shot back.

"Well, we need the help now!" said Sky as the robots got back up.

This time, the scales were tipped in the Ranger's favour: they weren't outnumbered, and Kat's Megazord was new, and hadn't come from almost an hour of fighting. The Blueheads piloting the robots seemed to realise that: they quickly ganged up on the newest arrival. Syd, not accustomed to the more responsive controls accidentally walked the Megazord into the blade.

"Oops!" she shouted. "I'm not used to this yet, sorry guys!"

"Later Syd," responded Sky, moving the S.W.A.T. Megazord so that it blocked the next attack with its arm. "Complain after we finish these guys off."

The S.W.A.T. Megazord lifted its arm up, and along with it the clawed hand of the other non-sword wielding robot. With the opportunity, Syd made up for her previous mistake and fired the Megazord's weapons at the exposed chest.

"Noo!" cried the Bluehead as the blasts ripped into the robot.

It collapsed, the fight having drained the energy levels of the robot to critical levels, to the extent where the weapons, motors and systems had been shut down.

"Well, talk about easy," Syd remarked.

Just as soon as she had finished speaking, the other robot came in and slashed the Megazord across the chest. The S.W.A.T. Megazord tried to retaliate, but was hit when the robot brought its sword horizontally across the S.W.A.T. Megazord's chest as well.

Syd manoeuvred Kat's Megazord so that it was on its feet, and started to clash with the sword wielding robot.

"Sky! Destroy the other one while I distract this one!" Syd shouted.

"Alright, Bridge, you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a little banged up," Bridge answered. He pressed the button on one of the various panels, and formed the S.W.A.T. Cannon.

"Do we need to do judgment?" Bridge asked as the Cannon adjusted itself so that it was pointed at the fallen robot.

"No Bridge," Sky said. He made sure the Cannon was aimed correctly, and prepared for the blast. "Bridge, you ready?"

"Always was. Fire!"

A rolling thundercloud of energy blasted from the S.W.A.T. Cannon, and consumed the fallen robot. Another explosion ensued as the robot exploded into a fireball. Out here, where there were minimal settlements, it wasn't necessary to propel the robot up to space.

"That's two down, one to go," Bridge said, even as the S.W.A.T. Megazord began to move towards where Syd was clashing with the last robot.

"Hang on Syd, we're just about there!" Sky said.

The S.W.A.T. Megazord pulled out its twin blasters, and walked in closer. It manoeuvred around Syd's Megazord, and blasted the robot. The energy blasts overwhelmed it, and as it fell, more lasers from Kat's Megazord struck it.

The two Megazord's crowded around the fallen robot, Sky looked down on it with distaste.

"Any last words before we send you to join your buddies?" asked Syd sweetly.

"Yeah, one word Rangers: die!" shouted the Bluehead, pressing a button, and engaging the self-destruct system.

"Energy levels off the charts! It's self-destructing!" Bridge shouted.

"Move!" Sky yelled, as both Megazord's did their best to fly away from the blast.

A massive explosion tore through the desert, and when it was gone, silence filled the area, save for the sounds of fighting inside the Delta Command Base, and the sound of a weapon firing inside a household.

* * *

Inside the Command Centre, the once locked doors were jammed halfway open. Krybots had blasted holes in it, and had forced their way in. Kat, Jack, Lt. Murphy as well as two Marines and Boom had fought off two assaults. As a direct consequence, the two Marines were laid out behind the Commander's desk, with Boom trying to tend to their injuries.

Kat sat slumped against the main console, trying to catch her breath. She hadn't fought so hard for a long time, at least since the civil wars on her planet, followed by the invasion by Grumm. Jack was leaning against the wall, his blaster at his side. He had done far more than Kat had expected, but then again, Jack had always stuck with them to the end. Lt. Murphy was crouching by his wounded men, his helmet in his hands, but his laser rifle was well within reach.

"Lt. Murphy, I think you had better get your Marines to the Infirmary," Kat said. "It's still clear from Krybots, and there's a route you can take that'll avoid a lot of the areas with Krybots."

He frowned. "I think it would be better if I stayed here," he said.

"Lieutenant, I am ordering you to go with your injured men to the Infirmary," Kat said firmly.

He exhaled loudly, and then got up. He slapped his helmet on, and readied his laser rifle. "Come on, Marines. On your feet. The lady wants us in the Infirmary, ASAP," he said.

The one of the Marines got up, and rubbed his arm, where he had been hit. The other one had to be hauled in between them. Lt. Murphy stopped in front of Kat, and held out his hand. "It's been an honour, Commander," he said.

Kat stood up, and demorphed. "Dr. Manx will do fine, Lieutenant. And it's been an honour commanding you."

Lt. Murphy then moved towards Jack. "I don't know you're name, son, but you sure can kick Troobian ass. Been my pleasure fighting alongside you."

"Name's Jack, and same to you," Jack said.

Lt. Murphy went to Boom, and repeated the same thing, adding 'thanks for the help' as he walked out, rifle raised as he helped the Marine out, hauling the one too wounded to walk between them.

They had disappeared from sight only for a few minutes before Kat heard running feet. And not the booted feet of a Marine, cadet or officer. It wasn't the metallic sounds of Krybots marching either. If it wasn't any of those, then Kat surmised it was the trio of monsters that disappeared.

"We've got trouble," Kat said.

Jack instantly shot up, and raised his pistol, pointing it at the door. Boom gulped, and shakily moved behind the Commander's desk, his pistol out as well. Kat pulled out her morpher, and raised it again.

"S.P.D. Emergency, S.W.A.T. Mode!"

A bright flash of light consumed Kat's form, and her suit and S.W.A.T. gear appeared, along with her Delta Enforcer. She locked in her morpher, and took a position behind the main console.

Hearing the running come closer, Kat touched her mouthpiece.

"Rangers, sixty percent of the Delta Command Base is under Troobian control!" Kat said, glancing at the screen displaying the Delta Command Base. "They're starting to besiege the Command Centre. Jack, Boom and I are holed up in it. Hurry Rangers!"

Kat didn't need to hear the reply- it was a one way message for them.

Jack looked over at her. "Just like Broodwing, right Kat?"

Kat forced a smile. "Yeah. Just like Broodwing. You okay Boom?"

The technician nodded weakly. The running came closer; even Jack could hear it. All three of them raised their weapons, pointed at the door as three figures burst in.

On the outskirts of Newtech, behind a setting sun, two damaged Megazords limped their way to the city centre, where the Delta Base was. The S.W.A.T. Megazord was severely damaged, and it came as no surprise when it toppled, and fell. The other one, fell to one knee.

"You guys alright?" Syd asked.

"Just fine," groaned Bridge.

"We can't stop now. You heard Kat. They'll need all the help they can get," Sky said through the pain.

"Leave the S.W.A.T. Megazord where it is," Syd said. "You can jump onto mine- well, Kat's, and we'll fly there."

"Can three people fit into the cockpit?" Bridge asked dubiously.

"It's either that or we walk."

"Let's get into your's- Kat's!" Bridge hastily said, as he and Sky moved out of their harness.

It was cramped and uncomfortable, but it sure beat the heck out of walking, Bridge thought as they zoomed towards the Delta Base. The sky was dark now, and all three had turned on their night vision built into their S.W.A.T. enhanced helmets.

"We're almost there," Syd advised.

"Be ready for anything," Sky said, raising his Delta Enforcer.

The battered orange and white Flyer landed a good two hundred metres from the front entrance of the Delta Base. Sky, Bridge and Syd stormed out of the Flyer, and rushed towards the entrance.

"Rangers! Go!" Sky shouted as they burst into the lobby…

* * *

A.N: Finally, I got this chapter done. Yeah, I know, the scene with the Krybots came from I, Robot. I haven't seen all of it, but you know, it just came out to me. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. And Kat Ranger, if you're reading this, sorry if there are some similarities between some of the things happening in this story with yours: namely, Kat getting a new Zord, and then someone taking over it while she does something else.

Happy New Year everyone, and I hope to get the last chapter out by the beginning of 2008! Reviews will make me work harder… : )


	10. Checkmate

Power Rangers SPD: Aftershock

A.N: Ah…here at last. The end of the road, and all those metaphors that signify the end. I'll save everything I have to say at the very end, so let's just jump right into things, shall we? After I ask something of you, if you read this. If you've reviewed before, I ask you to please leave one more review of this chapter and a final opinion. Not only because I like reviews, but because I want _feedback_. Tell me why you liked the story, or why you didn't, what was good and what wasn't. If you can do this, it'll be much appreciated (I'll stop pestering you now). And sorry for the quality of this if it isn't as good as the previous chapters…

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything related to them, and so on and so forth (definitely not now, since it's the end of the line)

* * *

The doors to the Command Centre, half open and jammed, exploded outwards. Given that barely three fully armoured Marines could fit through, it was too small for the three Troobian soldiers, who had to smash the door in.

"Surrender to the Troobian Empire or be destroyed!" one shouted.

Jack and Boom started firing, and the differing directions from the lasers confused the three Troobian soldiers. Each turned different directions, and ended up bumping into each other, as the lasers scorched their armour, but not doing much else, at least until the armour was weakened.

If that wasn't confusing enough, they soon spotted the only Ranger in the room- Kat. Ignoring Jack and Boom, they made for Kat, who fired at them. The more powerful Delta Enforcer did much more damage, and they shouted in pain as the bolts picked them up and threw them back towards the doors.

They had just gotten up when Kat vaulted over the main console, and landed straight into their midst. She swept two of them off their feet, but the third one just managed to jump to avoid it, when Jack's foot came from the side. The kick connected, and sent the soldier sprawling onto the ground away from where his companions were unsuccessfully trying to fight Kat.

Jack stepped between its view of the fight.

"Come on, bring it!" Jack shouted, taking a fighting stance.

"You think you can defeat me by yourself?" asked the monster as it got up. "You, a single human?"

"Yep."

With that, Jack ran towards it, and jumped into a kick. As it tried to grab Jack's foot, he phased his entire body and passed through the monster. It looked confused, and before it could turn around, a kick knocked it forwards.

It got up, and ran at Jack, drawing out a relatively short blade. It brought it down on Jack, who jumped to the side, and then jumped back to avoid a horizontal cut. He started to move back, to avoid the wild swings the soldier took at him.

"You…have…serious…issues!" Jack shouted, rolling to avoid the blade, and coming up behind the soldier.

He kicked at the soldier, who had turned around to face Jack. It jumped to the side to avoid Jack's foot, and tried to bring down its blade on Jack. Jack rolled to the side on his stomach to avoid the blade once more, and jumped up, raising his borrowed laser pistol. He fired once, and the bolt hit dead on. Before Jack could fire another shot, it swung the blade straight down at Jack's dead. He blocked the blow with his pistol- barely. It was a precarious position, given that the pistol was not designed to hold back blades of any sort for any kind of prolonged period.

Just as the monster was pressing its advantage, another shot rang out from deeper within the Command Centre, and struck the blade. The blade went flying, and Jack saw it was Boom who had fired.

"Thanks Boom!" Jack shouted as he raised his leg and planted his foot into the stunned soldier's chest.

"Anytime Jack," Boom replied as he ducked down out of sight again.

The blade that was shot out of the soldier's hand flew into the entrance where Kat was fighting off two of the soldiers. She punched one in the chest, and whirled around with a kick that hit the other soldier's attempt to kick her, knocking him back. Kat turned around to see a blade flying straight towards her face.

Kat cursed out loud, and jumped to the side. The blade impaled itself on the door, mere centimetres away from her head.

"Boom!" Kat shouted, before moving under one of the soldier's attacks, and lashing out with a back kick.

"Sorry Kat!" Boom apologised, before popping up and shooting at the soldier behind Kat who had gotten up.

The soldier was knocked off its feet again, and left Kat some space to fight against the other one. She blocked a kick with her Delta Enforcer, and was about to fire when another kick knocked it out of her hands. The Enforcer went skidding to the middle of the room, before Kat was hit by a pair of kicks simultaneously from both of the soldiers.

Kat flew back, and landed right next to her fallen Delta Enforcer. Sitting up and grabbing it, Kat quickly pulled out a Containment Card and slotted it in, just as Jack was thrown against the main console. He landed, and pushed off almost instantly. His first kick was blocked by the monster's fist, but his second kicked connected, and the soldier was sent stumbling back.

"No!" shouted one of the monsters as Kat fired.

The fireball enveloped the one Jack had kicked away, filling a good part of the Command Centre with a cloud of smoke. When it had cleared, all that was left was a Containment Card, with the monster locked inside.

"Jack, get that Card!" Kat yelled from where she was getting up.

Jack sprinted for the Card, which was lying in between the two groups of combatants.

"Tanzior! Go get that Card!" one shouted, as the other ran for it as well.

"Aw, hell no!" Jack muttered as he saw that the monster was closer to the Card than he was.

Running as fast as he could, Jack did the only thing he could with the Card a few metres away and the other one closing in on it. He slid towards the Card, just as the other one was bending down to grab it, and ended up slide kicking away the Card. The Card flew out of Tanzior's hand, and hit the wall, bounced off and flew through the air.

"Stop! I'm becoming nauseous!" shouted the monster contained inside.

The Card flew through the air, and landed in front of the Commander's desk.

"Boom! Grab that Card!" Jack hollered as he was grabbed by Tanzior.

"Jack!" Kat shouted, and ran towards Tanzior, before being thrown back by a laser bolt to the chest.

The technician scrambled out from behind the desk and crawled to the Card.

"No!" shouted the other Troobian, as Jack was dragged by Tanzior back to him.

"I got it!" Boom excitedly said, before a laser scorched the wall above him.

He ducked down, and scrambled back behind the closest available piece of cover, namely the main console. Kat slotted another Containment Card into her Delta Enforcer, and aimed it at the pair of Troobians, one of which was holding Jack as Boom popped up from behind the console, and aimed his laser pistol at the Troobians as well.

The one holding Jack raised the ex-Ranger up as a human shield.

"You'd want to think twice before firing," the one Kat heard was called Tanzior said.

Kat faltered slightly, and her Delta Enforcer fell away, pointed at the ground.

"That's a good girl," grinned the Troobian holding Jack. "Put down the weapon, or we'll blow his brains out."

Jack motioned to Kat frantically with his right hand. The motion caught Kat's eye, who looked down and nodded slightly to acknowledge that she was looking.

Jack brought his left hand over, and phased his left hand through his right, before holding out all ten fingers. Kat nodded, before looking up again.

"Drop your weapons!" ordered Tanzior, who shook Jack threateningly.

"Kat?" Boom asked, risking a glance at her.

"Do it Boom," Kat said as she slowly knelt down to drop her weapon.

Boom faltered for a moment. In that moment, Jack activated his genetic ability and faded out of Tanzior's grip.

"What the-" was all the dumbfounded Troobian uttered before Jack's now solidified foot hit him, and sent him flying into the other Troobian standing behind him.

The pair crashed into the Command Centre doors, and scrambled to get up.

"Get off me you imbecile!" shouted Nuprax, shoving Tanzior off of him.

Tanzior stumbled up, and aimed a kick at Jack, who jumped back. As he landed, he kicked Tanzior again. The Troobian soldier fell back, and crashed into a wall, next to the impaled blade. Wrenching it free, he took a wild swing at Jack.

"Didn't we go through this already?" Jack demanded, as he rolled, ducked and ran to avoid the swings.

On the other side of the Command Centre, Kat was battling with Nuprax, who was swinging his fist at the white and orange Ranger. Kat easily dodged one swing, and blocked the counter-attack with her Delta Enforcer. Pushing back, Kat leapt up and delivered a kick at the soldier's upper chest, sending him crashing to the floor.

"You've got a meeting with a Containment Card," Kat said before firing her Delta Enforcer, which had a Containment Card slotted in.

Nuprax disappeared in a fireball, screaming until the end. The Containment Card was left lying on the floor, as Kat looked over to see Jack and Tanzior locked in a struggle over the blade, which was held in between them.

"No! Nuprax, you fool!" shouted Tanzior, seeing the fireball envelope his partner.

"I got this!" Boom shouted as he jumped at Tanzior.

The remaining Troobian soldier looked up to see the mass of Boom flying at his face, and let go of the blade. Boom crashed into the Troobian, sending both of them sprawling onto the floor.

* * *

Outside the Delta Command Base, Sky, Bridge and Syd all fired their Delta Enforcers in unison at the groups of Krybots standing around. The lasers tore the groups of Krybots apart, and the three Rangers were able to make it to the locked down doors relatively easily.

"So, what do we do now?" Bridge asked, seeing the doors were covered in metal.

"We gotta find an entrance," Sky said, looking around.

"How?" Syd questioned. "The Base is locked down, which means just about every entrance is closed and locked."

"Ask Kat to open up?" suggested Bridge.

Sky and Syd glanced at each other.

"Worth a shot," Syd commented, as Sky nodded.

"Kat, can you open the doors?" Sky asked, touching his mouthpiece.

"Negative Sky," Kat said. "We've got a bit of trouble in the Command Centre. Too busy here. You've got to find some way in."

Sky could just hear the sounds of a scuffle, and a man who sounded suspiciously like Jack shouting something.

"We've find a way in," Sky said, closing the channel.

He looked at Bridge and Syd. "Now what?"

"Do we have to pay for damages?" Bridge asked, looking around the devastated parking lot.

"This isn't the time to be wondering about that right now," Syd said.

"No, I meant damages to the doors."

"What do you mean?" Sky asked, his curiosity spiked.

"We could try to blow a hole in the door with Kat's Flyer," said Bridge, pointing to the damaged vehicle. "And then go in."

"What stops more Krybots from entering?" Syd asked.

Sky looked around, and saw that some of the vehicles weren't too badly damaged from the fight.

"We can use a couple of those Cruisers to block the Krybots, at least for awhile," Sky said.

"Then we agree!"

Despite the conditions, Bridge still sounded somewhat cheerful that they were using his idea.

"Syd, you get to Kat's Flyer, blow a small hole, just a single shot or two in the entrance. Bridge, you and I will drive those Cruisers to block off the hole after Syd's done making it," Sky ordered.

"Then how do we get in?" Bridge asked.

"We can crawl under the Delta Cruisers. I think we can fit."

Syd nodded, and ran for Kat's damaged Flyer. As she got there, Sky and Bridge found two Cruisers that were still driveable, and drove them close to the entrance.

"Okay Syd, blow a hole!" Sky ordered.

A single laser flew at the main entrance to the Delta Command Base. There was a small explosion as the laser blasted through the metal that was aimed at stopping smaller scale attacks. A good sized portion of the door fell off as the sparks and smoke cleared. The slab of metal fell to the floor with a _clang_.

Sky and Bridge drove up, and parked their Delta Cruisers along the small opening, where sounds of fighting could be heard. Sky stopped his in front of the opening, while Bridge parked next to him.

Hopping out, Syd ran to join her two team mates, having landed Kat's Flyer.

"You guys all done?" Syd asked.

Bridge motioned at the parked Cruisers. "They'll have a hard time getting through that."

It was true. The space that the Cruisers took up prevented anything smaller than them from getting through. Krybots were not exactly nimble, and the best they could do was attempt to blast the Cruisers away. Troobian warriors were in general much larger than the Rangers, and would not fit through or under the small gaps present. The S.W.A.T. outfitted Rangers themselves barely fit through.

"Okay guys, let's go," Sky ordered. "Blast any Krybot you see once you get inside."

The three Rangers dropped onto their stomachs, and began to crawl through under the Delta Cruisers, beginning with Sky and ending with Bridge. Syd was caught in between them. It was a tight fit, with their S.W.A.T. amour scraping against the underside of the vehicles and the concrete.

"I knew I shouldn't have eaten that chicken," Bridge muttered as he heaved himself forward.

A sound not too dissimilar to nails scraping against a blackboard echoed in their ears as their S.W.A.T. armour scraped against concrete.

Sky stopped just shy of the hole they had created. Scanning the lobby, he was surprised to see that there weren't any Krybots in it.

"Nothing," Sky said, confused.

"What?" asked Bridge. "Say that again?"

"There's nothing. No Krybots in the lobby," Sky said.

"And that would be strange how?" Syd asked.

"The whole Base was invaded Syd. You'd think they would have Krybots crawling all over the place," Sky said.

"Sky, with Kat in there as a Ranger, not to mention all of the other Cadets, officers, they would need every Krybot trying to take control of the Base, not hanging around in a lobby," said Bridge.

"Let's just get in. I would rather go in without them shooting at us," Syd groaned.

Sky stopped speaking, and crawled under the Cruiser until he was standing in the lobby of the Delta Command Base. He helped pull Syd and Bridge out, before looking around at the carnage.

The lobby, which was usually clean, was blackened in many places, and craters covered some parts of the floor. Glass from the second level railings littered the ground, and crunched under their boots as they moved deeper into the lobby. Sounds of lasers being fired and shouts echoed throughout the Base, and never stopped.

"What happened here?" Bridge softly asked as they stepped around a group of Krybots, all with scorch marks on their chests.

All of them had their Delta Enforcers raised, and were ready to blast any Krybot that would show itself. A pair of cadets was laid up against the wall, their eyes closed.

"Poor guys," Syd said, as Sky just clenched his fist.

"We've got a lot more to save," Bridge said. "We'd better get to it."

"Right," Sky said, exhaling.

They walked forward, just as a group of Krybots led by a Bluehead rounded a corner, and saw them.

"Take them out!" Sky ordered.

The three Rangers ran at the group of Krybots, their Delta Enforcers raised, and firing. The Krybots returned the favour, with orange and blue lasers slashing through the air around the Rangers. The Rangers fired back. With the built-in sensors that S.W.A.T. mode offered them, the Rangers were able to target and destroy the Krybots with relative ease. The Krybots and the Bluehead went down in showers of sparks.

"Well, there's a small part of our contribution to the liberation of the Base," Bridge said, lifting up his Delta Enforcer.

"Ten done, two hundred to go," Syd chimed in.

"Save it guys. Where do we go next?" Sky asked.

Bridge shrugged. "The natural choice is to fight our way through the Base, clear every nook and cranny of Krybots."

"We don't have the time for that. The Base is huge!" Syd said.

"Then the second most obvious choice is to make sure the Command Centre is clear."

"Where's Kat then?" Syd asked.

"Doesn't matter. We'll make sure the Command Centre is safe first. All the sensitive equipment and controls are located there," Sky ordered.

All three broke into a run, and headed deeper into the heart of the Delta Command Base, fighting through Krybots and Blueheads that seemed adamant about not letting them through.

They fired their Delta Enforcers in unison, and blew apart another group of Krybots. The Krybots remains crashed to the ground, sparkling with electric currents playing through their fried circuits. Reaching the elevators and the staircase that was next to it, the three Rangers placed their backs against the wall.

"Elevator or stairs?" Bridge asked as they reached their options.

"Elevator, it's faster," Sky responded.

"What if they cut the cables?" Bridge asked.

"Bridge, you watch too many movies," Syd sighed.

Sky and Syd boarded the elevator, and Bridge hesitatingly followed. Once inside, Sky pushed the button for the level where the Command Centre was located, and entered his security code.

Inside the elevator, Bridge continuously shifted his weight from one foot to the other, giving the impression that he was bobbing up and down, and kept glancing up at the ceiling of the elevator, his Delta Enforcer at his side, pointing at the floor.

"Bridge! Would you stop that?" Syd asked, rubbing her helmeted head.

"Stop what?" he asked, shifting from his right foot to his left.

"Never mind," Syd groaned, as the elevator started to slow.

"Get ready guys," Sky warned, dropping to one knee, and bringing his Delta Enforcer up to his shoulder.

Bridge and Syd did the same, but they stood behind him, as the elevator chimed, and a pleasant female voice bided a good day. The door opened; revealing a white hall with nothing facing them, save for the sounds of a battle drifting down from further along the corridor.

The three charged out of the elevator, and was met with a group of three Blueheads that were heading for the source of the commotion- the Command Centre. Outside the thick doors lay several bodies of shattered Krybots, and the scorched wall facing the entrance to the Command Centre testified to a group of S.P.D. survivors hunkered down in the Command Centre.

"Hey suckers, chew on this!" shouted Syd as they ran at the trio of Blueheads.

The Blueheads turned to face the Rangers, and shouted an incomprehensible response before running at the Rangers. Sky, in the lead ran and rolled straight under the first Bluehead's swing, stopping behind it before sweeping a second off its feet. Syd and Bridge fired at the one Sky had rolled under, dropping it as Sky kicked the one he was battling into a wall. A second barrage of lasers knocked down the third as Sky finished off his.

"Keep moving!" Sky said, running for the Command Centre, which was only a few metres away.

* * *

Inside, things had gotten out of hand, despite that the single Troobian left was outnumbered three to one. Two Containment Cards littered the floor. Kat was standing, her Delta Enforcer raised and ready, but was unable to fire it, lest she hit Boom or Jack, who were scuffling with the Troobian on the floor. Unmorphed, neither of them could really match up against him.

Jack and Boom was fighting Tanzior, but Boom, lacking much training, wasn't faring well. He took a punch to the face, and staggered back, holding his face before falling onto the ground. Jack was doing little better.

Being unmorphed and lacking a morpher, he was forced to use hand to hand combat against Tanzior- far from ideal considering that he was virtually unprotected.

Jack blocked a punch with his forearm, and phased himself so that the Troobian stumbled forward in surprise. Before it could attempt to counter-attack, Jack tried to kick it. Tanzior caught his foot, and pushed back. Jack was sent flying, and landed next to Boom, as Kat leapt in.

"Not looking too good Boom," Jack remarked, as he pushed himself up.

"Definitely," Boom agreed.

Just before Boom had gotten up, Kat delivered a kick that sent Tanzior flying. Tanzior flew at them, his arms waving around in the air wildly. Boom scrambled away as Jack rolled to the left. Either way, they avoided the mass of the Troobian as it crashed to the ground where they had lain seconds before.

The Troobian managed to kick Jack away, before realising Boom was right next to him. He grabbed the technician, and struggled to bring Boom's body in front of him, but finally managed to do so. Tanzior pulled out his blade, and held it at Boom's throat.

"Stop right there," Tanzior rasped out.

Kat and Jack, who had been preparing for another attack stopped, seeing Boom held in a headlock. Both of them raised their weapons, though Kat was moving far more sluggishly than Jack. She was exhausted, having being through over an hour of constant battle with little rest.

"Drop those guns. Or else I'll slit his throat right here and now."

"What is it with you and taking people hostage?" Jack blurted out, not lowering his pistol.

"Let go of him, now!" Kat ordered, also refusing to lower her Delta Enforcer.

"It's only fair," said Tanzior, in a tone that conveyed to Kat and Jack that he was grinning. "And unless he has any special tricks, I don't think he'll be going anywhere."

"Kat!" Boom sputtered. "Jack! Help!"

Jack glanced at Kat, who was staring at Tanzior. "I don't think we can risk it."

Kat was about to saw something when the sensors in her helmet picked up the signatures of three Rangers rushing for the Command Centre. She lowered her Delta Enforcer.

"Drop your weapons," Kat said, lowering hers.

Jack sighed, and threw his blaster to the ground.

Tanzior chuckled, as the two weapons hit the ground. "You are so weak," he laughed, not letting go of Boom, who was still struggling.

"Let go of him," Kat demanded.

Tanzior just laughed again. "You're in no position to demand anything. This must be my lucky day, one Ranger to my kill count!"

"Think again," Kat said. "You've got three Delta Enforcers pointed at your back."

Before Tanzior could say anything, he heard three pairs of boots step into the Command Centre, and the humming of a charging Delta Enforcer.

"Ask yourself, do you really think you're lucky?" Sky said from behind Tanzior. "You've got three Delta Enforcers pointed at your back, your buddies are in containment cards and you are facing four Rangers. Ask yourself, do I think I am lucky? Well, think again."

"…that was a really, really long speech just then," Bridge commented, his Delta Enforcer still pointed at Tanzior.

Syd just sighed, before shouting, "Let Boom go!" at the Troobian.

"You'll never take me alive!" shouted Tanzior, and moved to slit Boom's throat with the blade.

Bridge, with his psychic sense of pre-perception, dove forward, and knocked the blade away with his Deltamax Striker, held in his right hand, his Delta Enforcer gripped firmly in his left. The blade flew across the room, and impacted next to Jack who leapt aside.

Bridge grabbed Boom's arms, and yanked the technician out of Tanzior's grasp. He sprinted away as Boom did his best to follow.

"Bridge! Boom! Duck!" shouted Kat, Sky and Syd simultaneously as they fired.

Lasers crisscrossed the air in the Command Centre, tracing lines of red as they hit the unfortunate victim caught in the middle: Tanzior.

The Troobian shook from the impacts, and collapsed into a smoking, shuddering pile. Sky loaded a Containment Card into his Delta Enforcer and fired. A small explosion filled the Command Centre, leaving behind an undamaged Containment Card, with Tanzior stuck inside, shouting like there was no tomorrow.

Despite the entire Base being under attack, Kat couldn't help but to sink back and lean against the main console, tired.

"You all okay?" asked Sky, turning back to make sure that there weren't any more Krybots or Troobian soldiers attempting to enter.

"We'll be fine," Jack said, stepping out. "I think."

"Just need a little rest," Kat said, removing her helmet. "Boom?"

The technician nodded weakly. Satisfied, for now at least, Kat ran a gloved hand through her dark hair, trying to smooth some of it out. "I hate that helmet sometimes," Kat ground out, giving up on her hair and wiping some sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

"I know how that feels," Syd chimed in. "This helmet is so confining."

"Forget that for now Syd. What are you doing here Jack?" Sky asked.

"Well, I could either run away and hide out in Mariner Bay or Silver Hills, or I could stay here and kick some robotic ass," he said with a smirk.

"You've obviously been busy here," Bridge remarked, scooting around the Command Centre to pick up the three Containment Cards lying scattered across the ground.

"What took you so long?" Kat asked, looking at Sky and Syd.

"Well, there were three giant robots, some of which kicked the S.W.A.T. Megazord around pretty good, and then we had to come back to Newtech after we had made sure that all three robots were down. And at the outskirts to the city, the S.W.A.T. Megazord died out on us," Sky answered.

"I think you've got your hands full after this Kat," Bridge said. "And your Flyer too…"

Kat turned to face Bridge. "What about my Flyer?" she asked suspiciously.

Bridge, Sky and Syd suddenly seemed nervous.

"Well…" Bridge started, but was cut off by Syd.

"We're really sorry about it Kat, but your Flyer took a beating during the battle. I suppose my driving didn't help it either."

"It is operational though," Sky amended. "Outside the Base."

Kat sighed. "When we're done with this, and when we get Cruger back we're going to have a long talk about your disregard for your equipment's safety."

* * *

Half an hour of constant fighting later, with the combined efforts of four Rangers, an ex-Ranger and the remaining Marines, cadets and officers, the Delta Command Base was cleared of Krybots, and the three Troobian soldiers were placed into the Containment Card Storage Area. The S.W.A.T. Megazord and Kat's Flyer were placed back into the Zord Bay.

The Infirmary, one of the places that hadn't fallen to the Krybots during the battle was once again packed full of patients. A surprising number of cadets, officers and Marines had survived, though many were wounded.

Syd was in the Infirmary again, working with Dr. Felix and others. Kat would have joined her, had she not been caught up trying to account for the missing, the wounded and the dead.

Sky and Bridge were in the Command Centre with her and Jack. Night had fallen and passed, and dawn was beginning to rise again, the sky lightening up. As usual, it was unseen by the four people working in the Command Centre.

"Thank you for the help," Kat said. "All of us here appreciate it."

She was facing the main monitor on the Commander's desk, which was split up into two separate screens.

"It was nothing. We are just sorry we couldn't do anymore," said an aged and balding Captain Mitchell.

"Same," said the two other men on the right hand side of the split screen.

Wesley Collins and Eric Myers, though aging as well, were still commanding the Silver Guardians. Both the Silver Guardians and Lightspeed Rescue had helped house the sudden influx of people leaving Newtech. They were the only organisations capable of keeping the people safe.

"We are sorry for the loss of your Commander as well," said Wes.

"We'll be getting him back," said Kat. "Don't worry about that."

"If there is nothing else, then I had better get going. We've get the people back home soon," Captain Mitchell said.

"Same over here," assured Eric.

Kat nodded. "Thanks for the help in this time of crisis."

Captain Mitchell waved off the thanks. "It was the only thing we could do."

The screens blinked out, and Kat leaned back and let out a sigh. That was one problem taken care of. The rest weren't so easy.

"Kat?" asked Bridge.

She nodded in response.

"I think we're done with these reports and all," Bridge said.

"Same here," Sky and Jack said.

"Then get some rest. You've all earned it. Dismissed."

"Can I hit the sack with these guys?" Jack asked.

"I see no problems with it, and it's their room," Kat said.

"We've got a chair," Sky said. "No spare bed though."

"Not a problem! I've slept on worse," Jack said as they walked out. "So, you're sharing a room again…"

Their voices died as they walked away. Kat slumped back on the chair, and rubbed her eyes. She was tired as well, the battle having drained most of her energy, and then working through the night. She'd worked through nights before, but never through a battle and then through a night.

Kat leaned forward, and placed her head on her arms, which were folded on the desk and closed her eyes. She made a mental note to check up on the progress of Jake's work on the disruption field generator, before sleep took her.

* * *

Hours later, Sky sat in the chair that Kat had taken ever since Cruger had gone missing. Jack was standing at the main control console, talking with Sky. They had close to eight hours sleep, and then gotten up. Kat had left again, leaving Sky in charge. Bridge was still eating, and Syd was sleeping, after working till early morning in the Infirmary.

"So, where'd Kat go?" Jack asked.

Sky shrugged. "She doesn't say, besides, it's not our business as well."

"Maybe she's got a…friend, somewhere," Jack joked.

Sky shook his head, amused. "What have you been up to lately?"

"Me?" Jack looked startled. "Well…first up there's the business, which is doing great by the way, and thanks for your donations. They mean a lot. Then there's Ally."

"How's she?" Sky asked.

"Fine, now that she's in Mariner Bay at least," Jack said. "And finally, trying to deal with Z being missing."

Sky cringed, and Jack noticed. "I don't blame you for it, either," Jack said.

"Who do you blame then?"

"The Krybots who took her," Jack simply replied.

"Oh?"

"And the Troobian leader, whoever he is."

"We'll get her back Jack, don't worry about it," Sky assured Jack.

"I don't think I have to worry. I'll be coming with you guys," Jack said.

"What?"

"I going to get Z and the Commander back with you guys," Jack repeated.

"Are you nuts?"

"No, just very determined."

Sky looked thoughtful for a moment, which Jack thought was rather rare for him.

"You're going to have to convince Kat to let you go though," Sky said.

"I'll get through to her," Jack sighed.

* * *

Kat stopped the Delta Cruiser a few metres away from her target. Arriving in the Delta Cruiser with S.P.D. markings as well as an S.P.D. badge, Kat was stopped several times by civilians thanking her, who had begun to stream back into Newtech from refuge.

She smiled, and shook hands and a said a few words to several civilians. She felt uncomfortable like this, being treated like a celebrity.

Reaching the front gate, the first thing that set off alarms in Kat's head was the fact that the front gate and door was open. Not opened like a normal person would have, but appeared to have been forced open.

Kat stopped a person walking down the street. "Do you know what's happening in there?" she asked.

The person shook his head. "No. I thought that whoever lived in there just wanted some fresh air. Hasn't the person ever thought of opening windows?"

"Thanks," Kat said, before walking to the door, a bad feeling rising from her stomach.

Reaching the door, Kat stepped in gingerly. A foul odour assaulted her senses, causing Kat to cough. At that point, Kat realised that she recognised the smell: it was the smell of flesh being flash-fried by a close range laser blast. She had experienced it one too many times on her homeworld, during the wars and the final desperate battles to keep Grumm's armies away.

"Jake?" Kat called out, stepping further in.

The further in she walked, the stronger the smell. Kat already dreaded to find out what would be in the next room, even though she knew what it was.

Entering the living area, Kat first noticed the state of the room. It was trashed, with sofas, couches and tables thrown all over the place. Lying in the middle of the carnage, however, was the body of Jake Litner.

"Jake!" Kat shouted, and ran to the body.

She knelt down, and a large part of his chest was blackened. Kat felt for a pulse, and found a very weak one. His chest rose slightly, and his eyes flickered open.

"…Kat?" he mumbled.

"Don't worry; I'll get you out of here. Just hang on," Kat hurriedly said, and reached for her morpher, but was stopped by Jake's hand.

"Don't…bother…" he weakly stated.

Jake coughed, and Kat knew that the laser might have done damage to his lungs.

"Didn't…expect…to…end…this way," Jake gasped.

Kat shook her head, tears beginning to form. "Me neither," Kat whispered.

Jake closed his eyes, if only to hide his own emotions.

"Don't…blame…Therntia…for this," he managed.

Every word he spoke was painful: it felt like his lungs were burning, and liquid fire was being poured into his throat. His time was ending…

"Why?" Kat asked, still holding back tears.

"He…just…wants…you to…be safe," Jake said.

"Safe?"

"Safe," Jake agreed.

He managed to grasp onto Kat's hand, and clutched it tightly. His eyes closed for the last time, and he took his last breath. Soon after, his hand fell limp as well, and fell to his side.

Kat didn't say anything. The tears that flowed did all the work. Emotion, anger, hurt, pain, confusion, all went rampant as Kat let weeks, if not years of bottled up emotions out.

Her morpher beeped loudly, and Kat snatched it out of her pocket. She held herself back from screaming into it, and took a deep, shuddering breath.

Getting a hold on her emotions, Kat activated it. "Kat here. Go ahead."

"Kat?" came Boom's voice. "We've found something. You'd want to be here for it."

"I'll be right there," Kat said. "And Boom?"

"Yeah?"

"Get a Squad down to my position, and get a burial detail."

"Why? Has there been some sort of accident?"

"Not accident Boom. A fatality."

"Oh. Ummm, I'll alert Sky."

"Thanks Boom. Tell Sky that I'll be there in ten."

With that, Kat closed her morpher, and turned back to her fallen friend. She struggled to hold back more tears as she laid his body down on an upright couch.

"Rest easy, old friend," Kat murmured, as she stepped back and headed out the door, closing it behind her.

She knew that soon, C-Squad would come and taper off the area, and retrieve Jake's body and bring it back. From then on, Felix would have to determine the cause of the death, and write up a report before Jake could be buried.

Jumping into the Delta Cruiser, Kat drove off away from the scene of death, back to a far more comfortable zone for her.

* * *

B-Squad, Jack and Boom were gathered in Kat's lab. While Sky, Syd and Bridge sat down in various ways in various places, Jack wandered around for a bit, taking a peek at everything around.

"Man, sometimes I regret leaving S.P.D.," Jack said, looking around at the numerous gadgets and devices scattered across the tables and desks.

"Why?" asked Bridge, once again taking his preferred spot in the lab, next to Kat's desk.

"I miss the good times we had together," answered Jack.

"Which? The ones when we were constantly being blasted, punched and knocked around?" Syd said.

Jack grinned. "Those seem preferable to some of what's been happening today. Still, it was rather…memorable when Sky was acting like a total jackass."

"You did as well," Sky pointed out. "The time after your first morph?"

"Don't remind me," Jack said.

He half expected a response from Z, before realising that Z was still missing. Sky, Syd fell silent, realising that their team mate had always added something to conversations like this.

Luckily, the silence was interrupted by the doors sliding open, and Kat walking through. Her eyes were a little red, like she had been crying.

"Sorry about that," Kat said as she moved to her seat at her desk and sat down.

Boom cleared his throat, looking nervous.

"Well, guys, during a rather routine scan of the city, you know, to make sure that all the Krybots were gone, I, uh, re-purposed the satellite over Newtech to make this job a little quicker," Boom said with a glance at Kat.

"Go on Boom," said Sky.

Boom gulped. "Well, during an energy scan, the satellite sensors picked up a strong power source that was fading away quickly. Shortly after, the power source completely disappeared, but then this came up."

Boom turned on the screen to Kat's left. It showed a blue outline of Newtech city, and the various power sources and emissions. Far left of the city, into the desert region, a pair of signals appeared, and disappeared.

Everyone present held their breaths.

"Is that…" started Bridge.

"I think it is," said Syd, looking over at Kat.

Kat quickly tapped away at the keyboard, and came up with something.

"It is. The Commander's and Z's tracking beacons from their morphers!" Kat said excitedly, forgetting about Jake for awhile.

"So they're alive?" asked Jack.

"Let me check," said Kat.

Again she tapped away, and the screen displayed the health signs of their captured team mates. They were still in a fairly good condition, considering the length of their ordeal.

"So, Z's alive?" Jack asked.

Kat nodded, and Jack slammed his fist against Sky's. He was relieved to hear that Z was alive, and so was Sky.

"So, we go in and get them out?" Syd asked.

"Better," Kat answered.

Again the screen blinked black.

"I'm moving Satellite 7 over their position now," Kat announced. "The visual feed is coming in...now."

Right on que, the screen lit up, and revealed everything that Satellite 7's sensors and cameras could see or detect.

"So that's where they've been all this time," Bridge said.

The screen showed the length of the ruined and damaged _Chimera_. The once mighty warship that they had seen decimate the S.P.D. fleet was blackened and distorted.

"Their signals are originating from inside the Troobian ship," Kat said, overlaying Z's and Cruger's signals over the _Chimera_.

"Then that's it. We're going in," Sky said.

"Wait!" Kat commanded, standing up. "We are not going anywhere until we think this out thoroughly, Sky. Rushing in there will do us no good, except to get us killed. We need a plan."

Sky sighed heavily.

"I know you want to rescue Z, and believe me, I want to get both of them out of there as soon as possible as well. But getting ourselves killed in the process will do nothing," Kat said.

"So what do we do?" asked Syd.

"Has anyone ever been inside Troobian ship?" asked Bridge.

"We all did, except for Kat here," Jack said.

"I mean actually explored the whole inside, not just a few sections."

Jack fell silent.

"Can we go in blind? Rescue Z and Cruger, and then work our way through the ship to find and capture Malignticous?" asked Sky.

"Cruger's been on the Terror warship," said Bridge. "Remember? He stayed behind and found Grumm?"

"But this is a different ship," said Syd.

"Can't we just go in and rescue the Commander and Z first?" Jack cut in. "I think that the latest attack must have used up most of their soldiers, and therefore, they must be getting pretty desperate. They may execute Z and the Commander soon."

The very thought chilled them to the core.

"Good point Jack," sighed Kat. "Okay, Rangers, suit up. Get a last bit of rest while you can. Boom, can you fly us there using one of the shuttles we have?"

Boom, who had been mostly silent since Kat had entered slowly nodded.

"I, uh, I think I _should_ be able to," Boom said, scratching the back of his head.

"You're a lifesaver Boom. Jack," Kat started, but Jack stepped up.

"Kat, I want to go as well," he said.

"You know that you can't-"

"I know that I can't! But I have to," he said. "Z's in trouble, and I've sat here waiting long enough. Besides, you're down two Rangers, and I think that you really could do with some help."

Kat looked at Sky, Bridge and Syd.

"Let him Kat," said Sky.

"We could do with some help, like he said," Syd stated.

"I say go for it," Bridge said.

Jack looked hopefully at Kat, who relented.

"Very well Jack, you can come as well," Kat said. "But you're not going anywhere in the ship unless you are adequately protected."

Kat got up, and moved to the rear of the lab, with Jack, Sky, Bridge, Syd and Boom in tow. Kat typed a security code into a cleverly disguised vault, which hissed open. It revealed the last B-Squad morpher, sitting on the same tray upon which Boom had given it to them.

"Think you can wear green?" Kat asked, pulling out the morpher.

"Sure, I got no problem with that," said Jack as Kat gave him the morpher.

"Hey, my old colour!" Bridge said.

"Jack, at the end of this, you'll have to relinquish the morpher," Kat said, closing the vault again.

"No problem. Like I said, this is for Z. And the Commander as well," Jack said, strapping the morpher to his belt.

Jack looked out of place, wearing causal clothing and having S.P.D. technology on him. Sky, Bridge and Syd were reminded of the time when Jack had first shown up with the red morpher.

"Now that that's been taken care of, get ready. Get some rest, eat, whatever, because we'll be leaving within thirty minutes," Kat said, as they ran out the doors. "And make sure that you get Z"s Delta Enforcer and Cruger's Shadow Saber as well!"

Boom and Kat were left in the lab.

"So, what now Kat?" asked Boom.

"I need to inform the base about this. Then, I've got to get someone in charge while we're gone. Get to the shuttle bay first Boom, and prepare a shuttle," Kat answered.

Thirty minutes later, all of B-Squad, Jack, and Kat stood in the shuttle bay. Boom was already aboard the shuttle. A single shuttle, similar to the one's that Kat took to Galaxy Command and the one that took the full B-Squad to Zentor, sat in the dock.

"Are we all ready?" Kat asked.

Nods answered her.

"Then get onboard," she said.

Sky, Bridge, Syd and Jack moved into the shuttle. Kat waited until they were all in, and then walked in herself, and closed the hatch.

Inside, five people called out 'S.P.D. Emergency, S.W.A.T. Mode!' in unison, and morphed.

Boom, strapped in the pilot's seat and with a headset on, turned on the engines.

"Okay guys, this is it. Engines are all showing a green light, fuel tank capacity is at maximum, and we are ready to go. Just waiting on Kat's orders."

"Just go already," Kat said with an unseen smile.

The shuttle's engines glowed from a dull orange to an angry orange-red, before it shot out of the bay. Part of the Delta Command Base opened up to allow the shuttle to fly through, and into the heavens.

The sprawling metropolis of Newtech City soon started to give way to a dry, barren desert.

"Hey, that's where we fought the robots," Bridge said, pointing at the scorch marks on the desert floor, as well as the sizeable crater.

"What did you do to cause that?" Jack asked, pointing at said crater.

"Well, one of those robots was decked out with missile launchers. We dodged some, shot some, but most of them eventually ended up crashing into and destroying one of the robots," Syd answered.

"How does it feel to be in green?" asked Bridge to Jack.

"Not too bad Bridge, not too bad at all," Jack answered.

"Guys, we're reaching the ship, standby," said Boom.

Up ahead, they could see the ruined hulk of the Chimera.

"How are we supposed to get in it?" Syd asked.

"We could try to blow a hole through, but that'll be too time consuming, plus we don't have the explosives necessary," Kat said.

"Could you put us down, and we look around for a hole?" asked Sky.

"I think I have a better idea," Boom said. "I can see a large crack in the ship. From the screens here, the holding cell where the Commander and Z are being held isn't too far away."

"That should do it," said Bridge. "If it's okay with you, Kat."

"I don't see a better plan coming up so, that's going to have to do," Kat said.

"I'll bring you guys in as close as I can, and then you can fast rope down," Boom suggested.

"Thanks Boom," called out his passengers.

The shuttle flew close to the ship, and ended up hovering across the gap in the armour.

The five S.W.A.T.-outfitted Rangers got out of their seats, and headed into the rear of the shuttle, which opened up. They attached ropes to several hooks, and threw the ropes down the gap.

"Good luck guys," Boom said.

As they attached themselves to the rope, Sky took one last look around. Everything was set, and he held his own Delta Enforcer in one hand, with Z's Delta Enforcer slung over his back. Bridge had the Shadow Saber slung across his back as well.

"I feel like I'm in one of those action movies," commented Bridge as they checked all their equipment once more.

"It does, doesn't it," laughed Syd.

"Ready?" asked Kat.

"Yep," came the replies.

"Let's go."

Together, the five Rangers pushed off the shuttle, and slid down on the ropes. They descended into the gap.

"Start slowing down," Kat ordered.

As one, they began to wring the rope, and slowed down, allowing them to see the separate floors.

"Where's Z and Cruger?" asked Jack as they dangled.

"The signal's the strongest over there," Syd said.

They all swung on the ropes, and let go. Five figures hit the floor in varying fashions, from landing on all fours, to graceful rolls into a kneeling position to one unfortunate belly flop.

"We all here?" Kat asked.

"We're all good," assured Sky.

"We'd better get moving."

The group started to move towards the signals of their fellow Rangers. On the way, they met occasional Krybots which were taken care of.

"You'd think they would have more security," whispered Bridge after dispatching of another Krybot pair.

"Malignticous probably has most of the Krybots guarding his room or something," Sky said.

"We're almost there," Jack said.

Approaching the signal source, the five Rangers gathered outside the door. Kat stood out the most, with parts of her suit white, as well as most of her helmet.

"Alright, ready or not, here we go!" said Sky, before he and Jack leapt away, and kicked in the door.

The door flew off under the impact, and crashed into a pair of Blueheads who happened to be on the other side of the door. The impact propelled both Blueheads into the wall, as the five Rangers stormed in, Delta Enforcer's raised to the surprise of Z and Cruger.

Four Krybots also were in the room, and judging from the way they were lined up, they were seconds away from shooting the Yellow and Shadow Rangers.

Four laser blasts met the Krybots, and destroyed them.

"Guys!" Z exclaimed. "About time you got here!"

"We were a little busy," Sky said as he worked on getting the cell door open.

"Is the Delta Base still in one piece Kat?" asked Cruger as the door opened.

"Yes sir," said Kat. "Though the same can't be said for the S.W.A.T. Flyers…or my own Flyer…"

Syd gave a helpless shrug as Kat glanced at her.

"Who's the new guy?" Z asked as she saw the Green Ranger.

"Aww…can't you recognise me Z?"

"Jack?" Z said in disbelief.

"Yep, the very one, decked out in green."

"Since when did you join up again?" Cruger asked.

"Well, that was partly my decision," Kat said. "Jack wanted to help, so I temporarily granted him the position as the B-Squad Green Ranger."

Sky and Bridge came up and handed Z and Cruger their respective weapons.

"What do we do now?" Z asked. "Get out of here, or try and capture Malignticous?"

"Commander?" Kat asked.

"We'll go after Malignticous. The opportunity here is too great," Cruger said.

"Yes sir!"

"Do you know the way to where he is?" asked Bridge.

"It's pretty easy, actually," Cruger said, opening the other door into the corridors of the _Chimera_. "All we have to do is follow the signs," Cruger said, pointing at the arrows.

* * *

Malignticous knew his time was up. Ever since the failed attack on S.P.D., he knew that his hopes and dreams of destroying the organisation that had befallen Grumm had been destroyed.

And now, he was receiving reports of S.P.D. Rangers entering his ship, setting free the two prisoners he had, and then escaping onto another part of the ship, undoubtedly to find and capture him. He briefly debated on how to escape, before letting out a snort of contempt. There would be no escape. He would either destroy the Rangers here and now, and claim a small victory, or be defeated.

And then there were concerns about Therntia. Malignticous wondered if it was better for him to send a Krybot down to the scientist's lab and take care of him, but went against it. He'd need every Krybot to defend what was left of the ship. If S.P.D. captured Therntia, then that was one thing less he had to do. He could care less about Therntia.

In fact, he was sure that the S.P.D. rangers were making their way down his ship towards the very room he was in. It was unfortunate the Krybots weren't advanced enough to issue reports pertaining to their situation. If they could, he could have gotten an idea of where these S.P.D. Rangers were. The various security cameras mounted throughout the ship were inactive, a result of the lack of power.

As the minutes passed by, Malignticous found himself wondering if he would be captured by a Containment Card, or knocked unconscious and escorted out by S.P.D. Marines in handcuffs when the next reinforcement fleet arrived.

* * *

As they made their way through the corridors of the Troobian ship, the Rangers soon found themselves going by Z's directions. The arrows they had followed for awhile had disappeared, leaving only Z knowing where to go, as Cruger had been unconscious when they were dragged out of the bridge and into the holding cells.

"Umm, that way, I think," Z said, pointing down a corridor.

"You think?" asked Jack.

"It was quite a while ago since they took me and the Commander down to the cells."

"Can't we ask Boom to do a scan of the ship, and locate the strongest energy source?" Bridge suggested.

"If Boom is back in the Base by now, then it might work," Kat said.

"Isn't that the way you found Grumm several times when he actually came down from his ship?" Sky asked.

"Do it Kat," Cruger ordered.

Kat tapped the communication headset on her helmet. "Boom, are you there?"

A few seconds later, Boom's voice came back.

"Uh, yeah Kat."

There were several other sounds in the background, like Boom was tripping over wires.

"I need you to do an energy scan of the Troobian ship. Remove all the filters, and report the highest energy source."

"I can do that. Just give me a minute," more sounds as Boom made his way to the computer, "or two."

"Hurry Boom."

"So, we just wait now?" asked Sky.

"Until Boom comes back with the scans," Kat said.

Silence filled the interior of the corridor, only broken by the occasional sound of machinery.

"So, if we do capture Malignticous, how do we get out of here?" asked Syd.

"Blast our way out?" Jack suggested.

"That's going to take awhile, not to mention being hounded by whatever's left of his army," Z said.

"Wait, can Boom come and pick us up with the shuttle?" Bridge asked.

"I'll ask," Kat said.

"Kat?" Boom's voice came over the headset again. "I've found the highest energy source, and from comparing it to the schematics, it seems that it is coming from the bridge of the ship."

"Can you guide us there?"

"I should be able to, but it doesn't display the level the energy source is coming from."

"Good enough. And Boom? You'd better get the shuttle ready again. We'll need a life out of here once we get Malignticous."

"Sure thing Kat. I'll get it ready once you're there."

With Boom's occasionally misguiding directions, eventually, after many turns and twists, B-Squad, a morphed Jack, Cruger and Kat stood outside the doors to the bridge.

"This is it guys," Sky said, readying himself.

"Rangers, Jack, Kat, it's been a honour," Cruger said.

"Same here Commander," Jack and Kat said.

Cruger nodded at Sky. In unison, Sky and Jack stormed into the room, followed by Syd, Z and Kat before Cruger and Bridge entered.

The room was circular in design, with the main platform where most of the consoles stood raised up above the ground. A series of stairs led up to the platform, and several other consoles dotted the area around the platform as well. A walkway ringed around the room above.

Standing in the middle of the platform was Malignticous. He spun around when the door opened, and was stunned at the sight of six Rangers storming in, with Delta Enforcers raised.

"Malignticous, you're under arrest!" announced Cruger, stepping forward so that he was in front of the rest of the Rangers, raising his Shadow Saber as he did so.

"I don't think so!"

With another shout, Malignticous summoned Krybots to the bridge. Some of the Krybots appeared around the Rangers, some appeared behind them through the doors, and others from the walkway above.

"Rangers! Get to work!" Cruger shouted, spinning around and slashing a Krybot across the chest.

The attack seemed to provoke the Krybots into fighting. All of them rushed at the grouped Rangers, raising weapons or outright firing them. B-Squad, Jack and Kat returned fire from their Delta Enforcers. Lasers flew across the entire room, knocking Krybots down, or destroying inactive control panels.

Cruger slashed three Krybots out of his way, and bolted for the platform where Malignticous was standing. Another two stepped in front of him, but a swift kick to one and another slash took care of them, clearing the way for Cruger, who leapt onto the raised platform even as three Krybots shot at him. A burst of lasers from Syd's Delta Enforcer destroyed the trio of Krybots.

"You shall not stop me!" shouted Malignticous, running at Cruger.

Cruger delivered a kick to the Emperor's chest, sending Malignticous stumbling back into his throne. Malignticous reached for something behind the throne, and pulled out a staff.

With a yell, the Emperor launched himself at Cruger with the staff raised, and brought it on a downward slash. Cruger parried the blow, and pushed back. Malignticous stepped back and as Cruger was forced to step forward, he kicked Cruger back and off the platform.

"So much for the famed Shadow Ranger!" he shouted as he too leapt off the platform, and landed.

Cruger, who upon landing heavily on the floor, had been grabbed by two Krybots. He managed to get kick one before they grabbed him, and flung the other one at Malignticous. The Troobian Emperor was unprepared for the Krybot which flew at him, and knocked the Emperor down.

Sky, Bridge and Jack ended up fighting back to back against the Krybots. Jack blasted one Krybot, and then shot another that was lining up Bridge, whilst Bridge fired constantly, keeping the Krybots at bay. Sky was picking off the Krybots that were standing on the walkway, taking pot shots at the Rangers scattered below.

"Just like old times, eh?" Jack remarked, still firing.

"Almost, except that Sam was replaced by Kat," Bridge said, kicking away a Krybot who had gotten too close.

"And also you're wearing different colours," Sky added, shooting another pair of Krybots off the walkway.

They crashed to the ground in a heap. A Bluehead fired its weapon at them, and forced them to roll away from the blasts. Jack and Bridge fired their weapons on the same Bluehead at the same time, sending it down as Sky destroyed another one with a single shot straight between its artificial eyes.

Syd and Z were fighting together as usual, the time Z spent in the holding cells not affecting her fighting skills. Kat pitched in to help occasionally, but was more intent on making her way to the main consoles.

Syd roundhouse kicked one Bluehead, and Z followed up with a shot from her Delta Enforcer that destroyed it. Syd kicked and shot three more, before turning around and seeing another group converge upon Z.

"Z! Behind you!" Syd shouted.

The Yellow Ranger whirled around, and managed to destroy one Krybot, frying it with a close range laser blast. Before the others could fire, Kat, who was halfway to the raised platform, fired her own Delta Enforcer as did Syd. The blasts destroyed the rest of the group.

"Thanks," Z yelled as she kicked back another Krybot.

"Thank us when we get out of here," Syd said, sliding under a swing of a Bluehead and firing at its side.

Both of the girls then turned their Delta Enforcers upon yet another group of Krybots which stormed through the doors. Lasers impacted on the Krybots, and the area around them, sending up showers of sparks.

Kat had been moving towards the main control consoles ever since the battle had started. Nevertheless, it was slow going, with Krybots and Blueheads impeding her progress. After lending some help to Z, Kat had blasted three Krybots, and punched a third. Another burst of lasers later, and the way was clear, with Malignticous fighting Cruger on the floor rather than the platform.

Kat ran for the platform, only stopping to take the occasional shot at a Krybot that had gotten too close. Reaching the platform with little difficulty, Kat found the main console, and activated it.

Bringing up a map of the ship, Kat found a route to where she wanted to go. However, with her attention absorbed by the display, the only warning Kat had of a Krybot bearing down on her was a shout from Bridge.

"Kat!"

She spun around to see a Krybot about to swing its blade at her. Kat ducked and rolled under the blade, and kicked the Krybot.

"Thanks Bridge!" Kat called out, blasting more Krybots as she jumped down from the platform, and went at the Krybots again.

Minutes later, with the combined effort of five Rangers, the Krybots were laying on the ground, some in separate parts, others with their chests blasted open with electricity coursing through the circuits. Malignticous and Cruger still battled, trading blow after blow.

Malignticous got in a kick that sent Cruger flying back. He crashed to the ground as the five Rangers ran up. Sky, Jack, Bridge and Z pointed their Delta Enforcers at him, while Syd and Kat helped Cruger up.

"Give it up," Sky said.

"You're outnumbered and outgunned," Jack added.

"Not for long!" Malignticous said.

He pulled out a remote, and pressed a button, summoning his final line of defence. Four Krybot Kommandos stormed through the doors, and raised their arm blasters and filled the air with lasers, instigating another firefight.

"Four of them?" asked Syd in disbelief. "We had trouble with _one_. But four?"

"Yeah, well, you didn't have me last time," Jack said, before all of them began to fire at the Krybot Kommandos.

"Commander!" Kat shouted as she ducked and fired at one of the Krybot Kommandos.

"What is it Kat?" Cruger responded, locking his Shadow Saber against Malingticous' staff again.

"I need to go deal with something!"

"This isn't the time, Kat," Cruger growled, landing a slash against Malignticous' chest, before leaping forward and kicking the Emperor back.

"There's someone else aboard this ship. Their weapons creator," Kat said.

A laser from one of the Kommandos forced Kat to roll forward, where she managed to kick one from where she was on the ground. Syd and Z unleashed a storm of lasers at the Krybot she had kicked, and knocked it down.

Cruger growled. "Very well Kat. Go!"

Kat nodded, and ran out the door, releasing a scattering of Cat Stunners at one of the Krybot Kommandos that Jack was fighting; allowing the temporary Green Ranger to landed two kicks in succession.

"Good luck Kat!" he called out as Kat ran out.

"Great," Bridge said.

He was fighting off another Kommando by himself, much like Jack and Sky.

"What do we do now, with one less Ranger?" he asked, taking a blast from the Kommandos blaster, and was sent back. "Owww…."

"We do what we do best: kick alien, or in this case, robot ass," Jack said, ducking a swing, before a metallic hand slammed into his stomach.

Before the next blow could land on Jack, the Krybot Kommando was blasted by Z, who had stopped her battle to lend a hand to Jack, whilst Syd kept the Kommando they were fighting busy with a series of roundhouse kicks, before the Kommando caught her foot mid-kick, and threw her into Z before Syd could swing her other foot around. It proceeded to blast the fallen Pink and Yellow Rangers.

Sky was thrown back when the Kommando he was battling fired at him, and kicked him in midair. He crashed near where Bridge was battling, and Bridge ended up tripping over Sky's prone form.

"Sky!" Bridge said in shock as he fell back. "What are you doing there?"

"I just got blasted, and then kicked in midair Bridge. Does it look like I had any choice where to land?"

Seconds later, Jack too crashed to the ground.

"What was it you said about kicking robot butt?" Bridge said.

"…I take it back," Jack groaned, as the three victorious Krybot Kommandos approached them.

Their lucky break came, however, when Malignticous whipped out his laser pistol, and fired at Cruger, who saw the beam, and instinctively raised his blade, and blocked the attack. Knowing that the blade wouldn't stand up to the constant force of the blast, Cruger flung the blast away from him, and into the group of Krybot Kommandos.

The blast hit the one in the middle dead on, and vaporised half its chest, and the pressure wave hurled the other two into the far walls.

"Guys, now!" Sky shouted.

Jack, Bridge and himself raised their Delta Enforcers at the damaged Kommando, and fired. Lasers exploded in the Krybot Kommando's chest, tearing circuitry, processors and hydraulics into pieces.

The Krybot Kommando collapsed, with smoke flowing out of its ruined chest. They all shot it once more, to make sure it was down.

"Now things are a little more even," Bridge said, as the other two Krybot Kommandos recovered, and ran at the Red, Blue and Green Rangers.

They met the charge, matching laser for laser, and blow for blow. Jack and Bridge both kicked one of Krybot Kommandos, and blasted it as it tried to recover from the kicks. The combined lasers knocked it back, and as it stumbled, Bridge ran forward and flipped over it, kicking it as he did so. Jack then shot it once more, and as it fell, Bridge roundhouse kicked it, sending it spiralling down.

Bridge loaded a Containment Card into his Delta Enforcer, and fired it at the Krybot Kommando, which was still trying to get back up when the blast engulfed it. A Card fell to the floor, holding the Krybot Kommando.

Jack gave Bridge an astonished look, which Bridge couldn't see through the helmet's visor. "What? That works?"

Bridge shrugged. "It does now, doesn't it?"

Jack shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Let's help Sky."

They rushed off, Bridge scooping up the Containment Card and placing it into his belt.

* * *

Kat ran down the corridors of the _Chimera_. It wasn't hard to work out where she was going, having taken a good look at the schematics. Luckily, the laboratory was located only a short distance from the bridge.

Reaching the doors, Kat took a deep breath, and burst through them. Her gaze swept the room, and she saw Therntia, staring at her in shock. Despite Jake having told her that Therntia hadn't committed the murder, Kat reached for a Containment Card as she walked over to Therntia, who was backing away.

"Therntia, you're under arrest," Kat coldly said.

Before she could load the card however, a blast struck her across the back, causing her to drop the Containment Card and hurling her over tables and desks as she was flung into a wall. Therntia looked at the doorway fearfully.

A Krybot Kommando stood at the doorway, its weapon attached to its arm smoking.

"Now now," it said, as it took a slowly, purposeful step into the room. "Don't think that you can just stroll in here and arrest anyone you want."

Kat hissed, and leapt up onto a tabletop, her Delta Enforcer raised and firing. The Krybot Kommando flipped out of the way of the blasts, and was struck in midair as Kat tracked its motion with assistance from the sensors in her helmet.

It crashed to the ground, even as Kat leapt off the table, Therntia forgotten in light of the new threat. It raised it weapon, and fired at Kat as she leapt at it. Kat slammed into the ground and rolled as lasers exploded all around her. The various tables and desks across the room made a straight line of fire virtually impossible, as Kat popped up to the Kommando's side and fired.

The blast missed as the Kommando rolled behind a desk, and sprang out, grabbing Kat around the waist and hit the ground. It raised a fist, before Kat kicked it off her. It sailed past Therntia, but landed on its feet, before kicking a table at Kat.

The table missed, but occupied Kat's attention long enough for it to take a running start, before leaping into the air and delivering a kick to Kat's chest. The kick propelled Kat back into a wall. It fired again, but Kat dove to the side, and the blast tore into the wall instead, throwing a large shower of sparks out.

Before it had cleared out, Kat ran out of it, her Delta Enforcer firing. Several blasts hit the Kommando, but it dodged the rest. It fired back, but Kat was already in the air, landing in front of it and sweeping it off its feet. It grabbed Kat's leg as it fell, and once it hit the ground, it threw Kat away.

Kat flew through the air, and crashed into one of the tables, knocking it over as she continued to roll back. It got up, and blasted Kat again with its weapon. She cried as the blasts sent her body flying into the wall, where she hung for a moment before sliding down next to Therntia. The male scientist looked shocked as Kat's broken and bruised body slid down next to him. He had been moving around the lab, trying to avoid the lasers and blows as Kat and the Krybot Kommando fought each other.

The Kommando laughed out loud as it stared down at Kat, who was struggling to get up. Her Delta Enforcer was still clutched in her hands as she tried to stand, before falling back down again.

"This is why you don't go around arresting people. You get hurt," the Kommando said as it stepped closer.

It raised a blade, and inspected it. It gleamed in the light, and above, Kat saw it reflected off the icicles on the ceiling. How icicles got up on the ceiling, she would never know, but it did give her an idea…if she had the time. The few hours of rest she had gotten hadn't done much, and her arm continued to ache, as did the rest of her body.

"Well, you won't have to worry about arresting anyone. I'll make sure of that."

Therntia saw the blade. In a second, he had thought all about it. He had listened to Malignticous, and had essentially played a part in Jake's death, which must have shaken Kat, given the way she had stormed in.

_Someone who is willingly to sacrifice others just for the sake of themselves without even thinking has no right to call themselves a being._

Even now, Kat's words still haunted him. He had sacrificed enough people: Choustos, who was dead because of him. His weapons had hurt countless civilians, who had nothing to do with him, hurt because of his desire to remain alive. And now, Jake was dead because he had helped Kat try to crack technology, technology he had created.

He had done it all for his own survival, as well as Kat's. He had wanted to keep her alive from the fury he knew was going to come down on Newtech, ever since the day Troobian ships had arrived. Then again, what was his and Kat's survival mean if no one else survived? Then his next action would be to help Kat.

Kat was staring at the blade as it came down. A shadow blocked her vision, and the sound of a blade tearing through clothing and through flesh echoed in the lab. The shadow slumped over next to her.

She couldn't think of anything else right now. The Krybot Kommando looked confused for a second- just long enough for Kat to muster her strength and kick out at it.

The kick connected, and sent the robot stumbling back. Kat raised her Delta Enforcer, and fired- at the icicles above.

It was either really well planned, or a great deal of sheer luck.

The lasers tore the icicle free of its grip on the ceiling, and plunged down, straight into the head of the Kommando. The icicle punched through the armour, and deep into the head of the Krybot, tearing everything into ribbons.

The Krybot Kommando stood shock still for a second, before it fell to its knees and collapsed, part of the icicle still jutting out of the head as its visual receptor began to dim.

Kat panted, and demorphed, the strain having been too much for her suit to take. She stood up, before remembering the shadow.

Whirling around, Kat saw that Therntia was laid out on the ground. Blood pooled from the deep cut in his side. Red blood.

Kat grabbed him, forgetting about his latest plots. It was like twenty years ago. She wasn't seeing the Therntia of late, the one who had hurt so many. She was seeing the one who had been a good friend. She gently placed him up in an upright position.

"You're bleeding," Kat quietly said.

"Thanks for stating the obvious," Therntia replied, taking a breath and shuddering.

"You're going suffer from blood loss, unless we can seal that cut."

"Troobians don't keep medical kits. I would know."

"Why'd you do it?"

"Do...what?"

"Take that blow."

Therntia grinned. "An old friend made me think about what I had done, and what I could do to fix up the damage."

Another breath, and ice cold fire shot through his body again.

Kat looked around, and saw his trench coat draped over a bench. Walking quickly, Kat grabbed it and tore its sleeve.

"Sorry about that," she said as she bandaged the wound as best she could.

Making sure that the bandage would stay wasn't too hard. A quick look around revealed some adhesive tape, which was soon wrapped around the bandage, which was soaked and coloured red.

"Go. Your friends need you," Therntia said.

"How did you know they were with me?"

"Saw through the cameras," Therntia said, gritting his teeth. "Just go. I'll be fine, for now."

Kat got up, and morphed again, and picked up the dropped Containment Card, which gave her an idea.

"Hold on Therntia," Kat said, drawing out her morpher. "Sorry about this as well."

"Kat? What are you-?"

His sentence was cut off by Kat raising her Morpher and activating its Confinement mode. Therntia was struck by the beam, and landed on the floor in a Containment Card.

"Kat! What game are you playing at?"

"Sorry Therntia. The Card freezes your internal organs- you can't bleed to death now."

Kat placed the Card onto her belt, and morphed into S.W.A.T. Mode, before running out. The others needed her help. And soon.

* * *

Back in the bridge, chaos ran rampant. After the destruction of one Krybot Kommando, and the containment of another, the third Kommando was destroyed by the combined tactics and firepower of Sky, Jack and Bridge.

Syd and Z had gotten the upper hand in their fight not long after Kat had left, with a good feint drawing the Kommando in and rapid close range lasers damaging it before five Delta Enforcers were turned on it, reducing it to scrap.

Now, all five Rangers were battling with their last obstacle: Malignticous, Overlord and Emperor of the Troobian Empire.

But he wasn't going down without a fight. Malignticous hadn't become the Troobian Overlord, defeated S.P.D. in many battles, as well as defeating many more enemies of the Troobian Empire without knowing how to fight.

He swiped his staff across the Red and Blue Ranger's chest as they ran at him, before whirling around with a roundhouse that caught the Green Ranger in the jaw. The Yellow and Pink Rangers fired at him, but missed when he flipped to the side, and blocked a slash from the Shadow Ranger. He let go of the staff with his left hand, and punched the Shadow Ranger in the chest.

As Cruger stepped back, Malignticous brought his staff down on Cruger, but before it could connect, Syd had leaped up and kicked it away.

Malingticous roared in anger as he swung at her instead. Syd jumped back, the staff swiping through the air where she had stood a second ago. Sky, Jack and Bridge fired their Delta Enforcers at Malignticous, who flipped and jumped to avoid them. A few blasts hit the Emperor, but did little other than to scar his skeletal armour, causing him to step back.

"You will have to do better than that!" shouted Malignticous.

"How about this?"

Malignticous turned around to see Syd and Z run up to him. Both of them kicked him, and as he fell back, Cruger leapt in, and brought his Shadow Saber diagonally down on Malignticous' chest, lifted it up and slashed in an upward motion before finally bringing it horizontally across Malingticous' chest, sending the Troobian Emperor twirling to the ground.

As Malignticous fell, he landed a kick against Cruger, who was sent flying into the wall. Malignticous drew his laser pistol from his armour, and fired at the Rangers from the ground. Explosions lit up the grouped Red, Blue and Green Rangers. As they fell in a shower of sparks, Syd and Z ran at him. He leapt back onto his feet, and almost casually swiped his staff across them.

Both of them collapsed.

"Z!" shouted Jack and Sky.

They ran up, with Sky reaching Malignticous first with a kick in midair. Malignticous grabbed Sky's foot, and swung him into Jack, propelling both Rangers into one of the consoles still intact around the room.

The door hissed open, and another Ranger stood at the doorway. Kat froze in surprise with the sight of the five Rangers lying on the ground, before another laser from Malignticous' pistol hit.

Malignticous surveyed the six downed Rangers.

"You didn't think you could defeat the Emperor of the Troobian Empire so easily, did you?" he chuckled.

He was answered with a loud bark, as the ceiling above them shattered. Bits rained down on the Rangers as R.I.C. burst in, landing on Malignticous and kicking him. Above, they could see a shuttle hovering, with Boom at the controls, who gave them a thumbs up. The rear bay was opened, with Lt. Murphy standing there, wearing his combat armour and a laser rifle in his hands.

"Need a little help?" he said through the headset.

"Good to hear from you, Lieutenant," Cruger said.

"Just dropping by."

Murphy shouldered and fired his laser rifle. Lasers rained down on Malignticous, who was forced away, when R.I.C. jumped up again and kicked.

More lasers hit Malignticous as the Rangers got up, and fired. The blasts sent Malignticous crashing to the platform where his throne was.

"R.I.C.!" shouted Sky. "Here, catch!"

Sky threw the metallic bone in the air. R.I.C. caught it, and transformed into his cannon mode. The four B-Squad Rangers and Jack took their places behind the cannon, as Kat and Cruger tag team battled Malignticous.

Kat threw her Cat Stunners, which exploded all around Malignticous as he jumped away, and tried to kick Kat. Cruger blocked with his Shadow Saber, and slashed Malignticous.

"Shadow Saber, full power!" Cruger shouted, and brought the flaming blade into Malignticous' chest.

An explosion sent Malignticous back. Kat leapt in, and released another scattering of Cat Stunners. The explosive energy flakes slammed into Malignticous, and knocked the Emperor to his knees as another volley of lasers from Murphy hit him. B-Squad and Jack levelled the Cannon at the fallen Emperor.

"You've been overthrown!" shouted Z, as they fired.

Two fireballs raced towards Malignticous, as Kat and Cruger leapt off the platform. Twin explosions roared across the chamber, leaving a large cloud of fire and smoke.

When the cloud had cleared, a single Containment Card laid on the platform. Cruger walked towards it, and cautiously picked it up, to the cheers of the Rangers, Boom and Murphy above.

In the Card, a miniaturised Malignticous was on his knees. He looked at Cruger.

"Curse you Space Patrol Delta! Curse you!" he shouted.

"For a moment there, I thought that he was going to come quietly," Jack said.

"You know these types," Syd said.

"Guys?" Boom said over their headsets. "Stand back a bit. We're blasting through to get you out."

The shuttle flew back, even as lasers ripped into the ceiling of the chamber, sending down parts of it. The shuttle flew in, and dropped a pair of rope ladders.

"What are you waiting for Rangers?" Cruger said. "Get onboard!"

* * *

The flight back was uneventful. Once onboard, the Rangers had demorphed, and slumped into the seats of the bay.

"Tired, eh?" said Murphy.

"You have no idea," said Z, before falling asleep on Sky's shoulder.

Jack looked at Sky, and gave him a grin.

"Hey, you hurt my sister, you got me to deal with, k?" Jack said.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Sky replied.

Outside, they could see the outlines of another three S.P.D. warships.

"So, you're going home now?" Bridge asked.

"Well, home for us is just another ship to serve on," Murphy said. "But, I'll make sure to visit Earth again sometime. You never know, I might end up bailing you guys out again."

Soft laughter filled the compartment.

* * *

The Delta Command Base was quiet, and seemed emptier than usual. With the influx of survivors from the ships gone, the Base was operating under normal conditions. Sky had gone back to his own room, with Bridge back to having the quarters they shared to himself again.

In the Rec Room, Sky, Bridge, Syd, Z and Jack sat around, with cadets, some still sporting bandages, throwing a lightball across the room.

Sky and Z took up one couch, a fact that Jack and Syd teased them to no end.

Bridge had a plate piled with toast again, with Z"s duplicate snatching a piece off him.

"So, are you coming?" Syd asked Jack.

They had been talking about taking the entire team, Kat and Cruger included, out to some place nice.

"Dunno. I'll have to call Ally, see if she wants to go. I should be able to, unless she's got something cooked up for me tonight," Jack said.

A series of 'aww's' filled the room.

"Shut it guys," Jack said, laughing.

"Did Kat or Cruger say they were coming?" Bridge said through a mouthful of toast.

"Uh, when I asked, Cruger had declined," Syd said. "Not sure about Kat though. Come to think of it, I haven't seen her around, at least not yet."

"Bridge, you find and ask Kat if she's going," Sky ordered.

"What? Why me?"

"Because you have psychic powers," said Sky.

"And because when Sky gets going with Z, this becomes an adult only zone," Jack joked.

Sky and Z shot Jack a playfully angry glare, as one of Z's duplicates slapped Jack over the head.

"Ouch!"

"Bridge, can you just go find Kat?" Syd said. "Tell her if she's going, it's a casual dinner, not a real fancy one."

"What?" Z exclaimed in fake shock. "You mean, Syd's organising a _casual_ dinner? I didn't think that was possible!"

"Oh, ha ha Z," Syd said.

"Come on Bridge, you'd better get going," Jack said, retrieving his phone from his pocket.

"Fine," Bridge sighed. "When's the dinner?"

"Seven thirty," Syd answered. "But we should meet in the lobby at seven."

"I'm going, I'm going," Bridge said, getting up.

Outside, he took off his gloves and waved his hand around. Kat's ghostly form appeared, and walked up the stairs, leading to the roof of the Delta Command Base. Bridge groaned as he thought of the long hike up, and placed his glove back on before bolting for the elevator.

* * *

The night sky over Newtech City was gleaming with stars. As Bridge got off the elevator, he walked around until he heard voices. Creeping closer, he saw that it was Kat standing there, talking with Cruger, who had just come up.

"There you are," Cruger said.

Kat turned to face him. "Hello sir."

"What's wrong Kat? You usual don't come up here to think."

"I needed to clear my head," Kat sighed.

"Oh, is that all?"

"No," Kat admitted.

"Then you can talk about it."

"I don't feel like talking."

"You know what they say Kat. All of us here understand."

Kat sighed, and turned back to face Newtech again.

"You remember that friend I was working with on the disruption field technology?"

"You mentioned him a few times, yes."

"He…was killed."

"And?"

"A Krybot must have done it, because the room was trashed. Normal people just try to leave everything alone, but the whole room was turned upside down."

"I see."

"You remember the other Containment Card I had?"

"You've brought in plenty of Troobians Kat. Be a little more specific."

"The one that last time, when we went in to rescue you and capture Malignticous?"

"Yes."

"I had to capture my other old friend as well," Kat said. "He took a blow for me, and would have bled to death, had I not sealed him in a Containment Card. And because I sealed him in it, he's now facing years for collaboration with Troobians."

"He deserved it Kat. Anyone who works for the Troobians must be stupid if they think they can get away from it all."

"Except that he turned on them last minute, and probably saved my life. Jake said that he had done it all to protect me, from the Troobians wrath."

"Humans are confusing beings, Kat. Both of us know that," Cruger said.

"Perhaps you're right. I don't understand Therntia, even after all those years," Kat sighed.

"So, about your fallen friend," Cruger began.

"I don't think his fiancée knows about his death yet," Kat said. "I need to tell her sometime."

"Why don't you leave that to one of the cadets?"

"I think it would be better to tell her myself. Things between us need a little smoothing out. Ex's and fiancées don't necessarily get along well," Kat said with a bitter smile.

"I'll leave that to you then."

Cruger too faced the night sky.

"Kat, you did a good job commanding the Delta Base while I was held prisoner," Cruger started.

"It was partly Sky as well sir-"

"Don't interrupt, Kat. As I was saying, you did a good job. It's not easy doing two duties, let alone being a Commander and the Chief of Technology, but you did a really good job" said Cruger. "I've been with S.P.D. for a long time Kat. I realise that I need to spend more time with my wife. I might be considering a long leave, perhaps retirement."

"But sir!" Kat protested. "All of us need you here."

"Everyone here is willing to follow your lead, Kat. I've been thinking, and while I know that I will be taking a long leave, retirement might be on its way, perhaps in another few years. I'll either leave you or Sky in charge of the Base while I'm gone."

Kat sighed. "Yes sir."

"Don't look so down Kat. You'll get pretty much double pay for doing two duties," Cruger said. "In fact, I've had a talk with Birdie, and he's agreed that you'll get some benefit for filling in for me, as will Sky."

"Yes sir."

"Now, goodnight Kat. Don't look so down."

Cruger left, and Kat was left alone on the rooftop with Bridge, who was still hiding behind an air conditioning unit.

"Kat?" he called out, stepping out.

She turned around to face him.

"Hello Bridge. What are you doing up here?"

"Um, Syd wanted me to ask you if you would want to come with us for dinner out someplace," Bridge said nervously.

Kat thought about it, and then smiled. "Sure thing. When is it?"

"Seven thirty, though Syd wants to meet in the lobby at seven."

"I'll be there. Anything fancy?"

Bridge shook his head.

"I see you at seven, then," Kat said.

"Alright. See ya at seven Kat."

Bridge left, heading back towards the elevator. Kat turned to face the city once more. It was coming back to life, despite having evacuated a few days ago.

A cold wind whipped past Kat, catching her hair in the process. She devoted one last thought to Therntia, one last goodbye to Jake, and turned back into the Delta Command Base. Lately, she had yearned for some company, the lack of it creating a hole in her heart.

_Maybe Bridge could fill that hole_, Kat thought as she strolled back inside and to her room to shower and to change, before heading to the lobby, where B-Squad sat like it was a months ago.

Jack, Sky, Bridge, Z, Syd and Ally. They were all there. Now, Kat had joined them, and as they walked out of the lobby as a group, with Sky's arm wrapped around Z, and Jack's around Ally, Bridge gave Kat a goofy grin.

_Bridge could fill the hole_, Kat thought, as they walked. _He most definitely could…_

_But that's another story…_

* * *

A.N: Well people, here it is. Fifty three days and ten chapters later, here is the end of Aftershock. I truly did enjoy writing it, and I hope that you all enjoyed reading it.

I want to thank the following people for taking the time to read through, and to review this story: Muse10, Blackguard, Terrific Tina, Kat Ranger, GinaStar, and LilI. Thank you all so much, your reviews kept me going, as did your comments.

A special thanks goes to Terrific Tina, who true to her penname, was truly terrific, constantly reviewing every chapter I put up. Thanks for doing so, and putting up with long waiting times, all of you.

On a side note, Terrific Tina: when are you going to update your Talk Show?! I need answers!

While S.P.D. certainly wasn't the best season, it was one of the best, no small thanks due to the absolutely brilliant cast. Thanks to them for giving all of us the characters to play around with, because without them, there would be no S.P.D. fan fiction.

Just because this is done, doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing. The next story up is probably going to be Insolitus Res. Check out my profile for the gist of it, and then probably the sequel to Serene Reflections, which _still_ has no title. If anyone has one, feel free to PM it to me, thanks!

Once again, thanks to all of you who have read or reviewed, you're truly fantastic. I'll see you next time I write, which maybe anything from a couple of days to a week or two.

See ya, all of you, next time I write!


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